Titans Rising
by Hoodman
Summary: The Titans have been defeated. Slade is using Terra to rule the city unopposed. Can Robin rally the Titans together to save Terra and the city, or are they doomed to fall before the juggernaut that is Slade? RobinStarfire TerraBeastBoy
1. It Begins

It was cold.

That was what Robin's body signals were sending him. He ignored them as he passed through the streets of Jump City. Or what was left of Jump City.

He continued to walk along, absorbed in his own thoughts. Terra had betrayed them. She had destroyed the Tower, their unity, and ultimately, the Titans themselves. With them out of the way, Slade had taken over the city, and, now was hunting them down. This was a simple way to look at it, yet Robin thought into it with much more detail.

He had been forced to ditch his old costume. It stuck out like a sore thumb among the rubble and snow. He had donned all black, complete with black gloves, black leather jacket, black pants, black boots, the entire lot. It reminded him of a cross between _The Matrix_ and _Witch Hunter Robin_. He kept the mask however. He didn't know why, but it held some value to him. Probably because it reminded him of the good days.

The good days... when they had been together, when they had been a team. Now, he might be the only one left. He ground his teeth together. If his friends were hurt, someone was going to pay. And they would pay dearly.

The permanent winter Slade had set upon the city didn't help his current state of mind. 'So this is why it was winter when Star followed Warp' Robin thought bitterly to himself as he continued his walk through what was left of his former home. He didn't understand why Slade wanted it winter. Perhaps an attempt to force the Titans out of hiding? Maybe he liked the cold? Whatever the reason, Slade had done it, and it was making Robin miserable. He wouldn't be surprised if that was his intent.

He felt the Colt .45's clunk against his chest. He had taken them on an impulse, and they had saved his life on several occasions. He didn't rely on them heavily, just in case all else failed. He practiced his fighting style every day, so that he wouldn't get rusty. However, when he did use them, he wasn't your ordinary gunman. There are several forms of martial arts that use guns as weapons, and learning them had made him quite the deadly foe.

But so was Slade.

Even the name sent Robin into hysterics. He was the reason that they were no longer together, he was the reason that the city was in ruins, he was the reason that he was now wandering the streets with no one to help but himself... the list went on and on.

Robin stopped walking. He sniffed the air, listened for movement. He picked up the smell of oil, heard the clank of metallic footsteps, felt the vibrations of movement behind him.

Androids. Slade's androids to be exact. They were the only other things left, as far as he knew.

Readying himself for battle, he reached inside his coat for his bo staff. Even retracted, it was a powerful weapon, as the added weight to his fist gave more oomph to his punch. Leaving it this way, he waited for their first move.

It came from behind.

He heard the whoosh of air from a punch being delivered to his back. With the speed and grace of a figure skater he whirled around and caught the offending extremity. Grabbing it further up the android's arm, he flipped it over his head onto its back, from where he stomped down on the head, crushing the motherboard that served as a brain.

Extending the bo staff, he spun around and, with a hoarse yell, charged into the middle of the ambush squad. His staff swung this way and that as he lay waste to his would-be attackers.

Several pulled out their blasters, but a quick placed explosive disk destroyed the weapons, along with their users.

One tried to gain the element of surprise by sneaking up behind him. Robin dealt with this strategy using a backwards kick, sending it into another android. Robin's staff found its way into both of their chests, hitting their battery packs and annihilating their source of energy. They de-activated, never to be fixed, as the damage Robin inflicted on them was to great for any mechanic to repair.

A group attempted to surround him, but all were repelled by the ferocity of their target's counter-attack.

Another group attempted to use the same tactic, but a spin kick sent them flying in different directions, landing as useless humanoid puppets, never to harm another being again.

What remained of the squad pulled out their blasters, but Robin sent a shuriken that dismembered the hands holding the blasters from their owners. Each then got another shuriken in the head, cutting their motherboards in half and effectively neutralizing them as a threat.

Thus, the skirmish ended, with Robin having only a slight burn where a laser from a lucky android had grazed his cheek. The Master of Games had called him a 'one-man army'.

The title was well earned.

Looking at the remains of the unfortunate ambush squad, he thought about his teammates. Where they too fighting off entire brigades of soldiers? Where they where they captured by Slade to be used as he saw fit? Where they even alive? He mentally evaluated their chances of living. He used his earlier fight to evaluate his former teammates. Assuming that they were fighting an average sized squad of androids, how would they fare in a fight alone?

Raven would have no problem with them. All she needed to do was grab them and crush them into a pile of scrap metal. After all, they _were _inorganic, therefore under her control, should she choose to use it.

Cyborg would be busting through them with a smile on his face, sonic cannon firing wildly as he plowed through them, his technology being far superior than that of their makers abilities as a mechanic.

Starfire would hopefully have learned that you couldn't reason with them, and wouldn't hold back for anything. Robin was worried about her. Out of all the Titans, she was most vulnerable. Not that she was weak, by no means did he doubt her abilities as a fighter. It was that she was too trusting.

Robin cleared his head. She would be fine. They were, after all, robots, devoid of human emotion. She would realize this. He knew it. She would be okay.

Beast Boy was probably hiding from them, taking them on one by one, using hit-and-run tactics. Robin could imagine the shape-shifter Charging as a gorilla, then running away as a cheetah when the fight got too intense, only too repeat the process again.

He smiled to himself. They should be okay, he thought to himself. He had confidence in his friends.

But if they faced Terra...

His smile wilted from his face at the thought of her. It wasn't the betrayal that really ate him up; it was what she did to Beast Boy that had really driven him up the wall. Beast Boy _loved_ her. For God's sake, he truly _loved_ her. He would have given his life for her. And she had played like she loved him back, then tossed him aside like garbage after her betrayal was revealed. Robin had seen that he liked her, but had kept his mouth shut, not wanting to drive the green changeling away from her in embarrassment. He was so happy with her, and was crushed when she showed her true colors. Robin remembered the look on his face as Terra grinned at him and threw him a mocking kiss as she left with Slade. Maybe he could talk her out of it, show her the light...

Robin snapped out of the memory. It was too late; Terra was truly Slade's. There was nothing that he could do about it. If anything could be done, it would have to be Beast Boy who did it. He was the one who loved her, and he was the best one to bring out what good was left in her, if any _was_ left to bring out.

He again began to walk the streets. They were out there, somewhere. He didn't know for sure, but the thought was comforting. They were out there, in the vast wasteland that had once been the city. They were there. He now had a mission, and it drove him forward. No matter what it took, he was going to find out where his team was.

Little did he know how close two of his former comrades were.

()()()

Cyborg had been running from his pursuers for what felt like days, but was probably only a few hours. Adjusting the unconscious form of Raven to his left arm, he brought out his sonic cannon. Blasting a hole in the wall ahead of him, he tore through it, looking for a way to dispose of the androids that were trailing him like bloodhounds.

Shooting the support beam of the building, he dived through the open door and slammed it shut. Propping a slab of rock against it, he took off down the street. The building collapsed, crushing the androids inside. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned his attention to Raven. He had stumbled right into a firefight between her and a team of androids. She had been hit from behind by laser fire. She was on her last legs when he came in on accident. As it turned out, his accident could have saved her life. If he hadn't been there...

He shook his head. He couldn't afford such thoughts now. Not with Raven in the state she was in.

He inspected the wound. A direct hit to the shoulder blade, into the top of the right lung, to exit through the other side. Knowing Raven, it probably came from behind. He didn't know for sure, but one thing was certain. The wound was serious.

Far too serious for him to handle.

Not that he was squeamish about blood or lacerations, but he wasn't built with medical tools, and his knowledge of first aid didn't go beyond wrapping a bandage or CPR. There was only one other option.

He needed another Titan.

Preferably Starfire, as the laser had went through part of Raven's breast, and he didn't want to be caught by Raven with her clothes off, no matter what the situation.

He sighed, and picked her up to continue on his way. He knew what he had to do. He had to find Starfire. She was an alien; she might know some form of healing wounds beyond the knowledge of this world. Plus, she was a girl, so there wasn't as much dirrerence between her and Raven, at least compared to Cyborg.

Grim faced, he trudged onward, hoping to stumble upon the alien girl. _Starfire has to know what to do._ he thought. _Raven's life may depend on it._

It was then that he heard a noise.

Jerking his head toward the source, he scanned it with his cybernetic eye. It picked up a heat signature. _Strange._ he thought to himself, _There's a heat signature. Robots don't have one, so it must be alive. But what could survive out here, with those walking piles of scrap everywhere?_

He was about to go inspect, but then Raven shifted in his arms, bringing his attention to her. He couldn't leave her here. There were too many patrols out for it to be safe. _But what if the noise was another Titan?_ his mind nagged at him. _What if it's Starfire? What if they're in trouble?_

Eventually, curiosity got the better of him, and he looked for a place to put Raven. He found the perfect spot. It was a hole in the street, about five feet in either direction and about four feet deep. Placing Raven in this, he sealed it with a section of wall, making sure to leave an air hole so she wouldn't suffocate.

With her in place, he went to find the source of the heat. Arming his cannon, should whatever it was be less than friendly, he went toward where he last saw the multicolored spot that meant heat on the infra-red spectrum. Looking around the corner of the building, it turned out to be a cat.

It was a tabby short hair, and it looked like it hadn't eaten in several days. It mewled pathetically at him, and Cyborg felt bad for the hapless feline that lay before him.

"Come here, big guy." he said sweetly, picking it up gently. Holding it in his arms, he began to stroke it's back. It mewled its thanks, and started to sleep. Cyborg carried the cat back to where he left Raven. Carrying both was going to be a hassle. But he couldn't leave the cat, and certainly not Raven, his friend. With the cat in one arm and Raven in the other, Cyborg felt more vulnerable than ever. He needed someplace to stay, an abandoned building, the docks, anywhere.

He plodded on, carrying his cargo downtown, hoping that somehow his prayers would be answered.

()()()

At that moment, Starfire was sitting behind a piece of building, hiding from any androids that were about in the area. Fatigue had weakened her substantially, and she knew she couldn't win a fight against five of them, let alone the companies of them that patrolled the streets.

Ignorant to Raven's plight, she thought about Terra.

'She is not evil, she is _not_ evil!' she had voiced to the others, more to reassure herself than them. Why would she betray them? They were friends... she was jolted from her thoughts when she ran into something.

She fell over, and was immediately pinned down by a pair of large hairy arms. She kicked the figure in the chest, which threw it into the building opposite. Getting up, it seemed to change shape, and lunged at her, fangs bared, ready to bite her head off. She dodged to the side, and claws raked her stomach, drawing blood.

Crying out in pain, she punched her assailant in the gut with all her might. It fell back, gasping for air. She peered at the figure, which wrapped its body around her, squeezing her breath and life out of her. She could have broken free, but fatigue had sapped her of her usual strength.

As her vision blurred, she looked at her attacker. It was a snake. But what about the arms? Or the claws? She then noticed the one thing that connected it all together.

The snake was green.

"B... B... east... Boy..." she managed to gasp, and the green changeling instantly released her. Transforming into his usual self, he looked at her with concern in his eyes.

"Star! Are you okay? I'm such an idiot! I should have known, I should have paid attention, I..." she placed a finger on his lips to quiet him down.

"You made a mistake. That's all right. At least you and I are not..." she looked at the claw marks, "badly harmed."

"But I clawed your belly open. Any closer and I would have... would have..." He turned his head away in disgust.

"But you didn't. Now let us leave this place before those robots find us."

Beast Boy nodded silently, and in an instant, was an eagle. The two flew off in a random direction, not knowing exactly what they were going to do. Neither did the other Titans. Robin, Cyborg, and of course not Raven, as she was still KO'd. None of them knew exactly what to do next. But one thought that they all shared was that something must be done. Something had to be done. Or else, they would all surely perish.

()()()

Terra was pleased.

She had wiped out the Teen Titans. It had been pretty easy, as they were still in shock about her betrayal. Beast Boy most of all. It had been hard to leave him, but she didn't need him anymore.

Slade had given her the one thing she ever needed. Control.

Through the use of training, the cybernetics of the suit, and her own determination, she had gotten her powers in check. And with it, a whole wealth of power. Now that she no longer had to worry about making a colossal sand devil whenever she picked up too many rocks, she had almost no limit. She could now achieve her full potential. Lifting up boulders big enough to crush half a city block had been one of the many things she could do right off the bat. But Slade had told her that she had not yet reached her full limit yet. So she had trained.

She had trained ever so hard.

Her reminiscence was cut short when Slade's voice sounded out of the communicator in her ear.

"Terra, report to the control room."

"Yes, Master."

Walking down the hall, she thought about her short time with the Titans. It had been good to meet them. They were good friends. But they didn't give her control. And that was the one thing she sought.

Control.

That was what Slade offered her. And she took his offer, with all her heart and soul.

Well, maybe not all.

Beast boy had loved her, she could tell. Not some schoolboy crush, but actually loved her. And she loved him back. But Slade's offer had been too much to refuse, so she left him, trying to make it easier for herself by acting as though she didn't.

But the fake good-bye kiss was perhaps a little much.

She could tell it was like a slap to the face when she left. But that was the past. Maybe, after she got control, she would leave Slade and they would get together again. But until then, she followed Slade.

The door hissed open as she stepped into the control room.

"You summoned me, Master?"

"Yes, it seems another squad has been terminated by Robin. You are to seek him out, and report back to me as soon as you find him."

"Yes, Master."

As she turned to leave, he added, "Oh, and Terra,"

"Yes, Master?"

"Don't let Beast Boy distract you. You are allowed to associate with him, but do not hesitate to remove him if he interferes with your task."

She brightened up by the freedom she had gained. One step closer...

"As you wish, Master. And thank you."

As she hurried off to seek out the Boy Wonder, Wintergreen came out of the shadows.

"Are you sure it is... safe... to let her pursue that boy? He might try to get her to turn against you, sir. With all due respect, I don't like the freedom you've given her."

"I understand your concern, my old friend. But, if she isn't happy, she won't want to work for me. It is because of Starfire that I lost Robin. By keeping her away, he rebelled. I will not make the same mistake."

"You think he fancies her, sir?"

Slade smiled under the mask. "On some level, yes. And I think she returns the feeling. I've seen the looks passed between the two. They may not know it yet, but there is some deeper emotion between those two other than petty friendship."

Wintergreen got a thoughtful look on his face. "Yes, the boy does seem to look out for her a lot, doesn't he? Well, if you think it's alright, sir..."

"I do, my friend, I do. Why shouldn't she be happy? She has served me well. She's earned it."

"Very well then, sir. I'll be off to bed then."

"I'll stay up and monitor her progress."

Wintergreen shook his head, a smile of amusement prominent on his features. "Sometimes I wonder how you do it, sir."

Slade returned the smile. "Endurance, old friend, pure endurance. Good night."

"Good night, sir."

Wintergreen turned and left to his room. Slade stayed, looking at the girl on the monitor. She was riding a rock, scouring the city for her prey. Or Beast Boy. Love can do such things to people.

Slade sat back in his chair. He was sure to enjoy the show.

He watched as his apprentice's eyes darted hither and yon, looking for whatever she was looking for in the vast city below.

{}{}{}

You can get a picture of Robin at Animation Insider. It's .net, not .com. Go to WalkingArsenal's profile, and view his posts. Click on one that was made in Custom Teen Titan Avatars. It's on page 79, middle of the page, can't miss it. Sorry, won't let me use the url. It is property of WalkingArsenal, not me. Neither is Teen Titans. Constructive criticism is wanted, but no flames. I'm working on the next chapter as you read this, so expect it soon. I might change the wording of the chapters as I think of things, so tell me what y'all like and don't like.


	2. The Attack

This chapter seemed at bit forced to me, but since I write with little thought beforehand it probably isn't. I have seen some reviewers that want a CyborgRaven couple. I set out not intending them to get together, so it might not work for the storyline I have in mind. If enough people want it in, I'll add them to the list. Actually, there is a _slight_ CyborgRaven moment in this chapter, and really, even some CyborgRaven shippers (no offense if there is any to take) wouldn't call it love. I wouldn't call it love, more for survival than out of some deeper emotion.  
  
There is also a Stephen Kingish part in here. Readers of his books will know it when they read it.  
  
Also, one reviewer told me about the reasons that Terra betrayed the Titans. Personally, to me, she tried to destroy the city, in Starfire's words "Attempted to annihilate us", and sided with Slade. All that because she assumes Beast Boy told her secret, with nothing but frail circumstantial evidence to back it up? To me, that's a childish reason, so I've taken that out, as it wouldn't fit the story I'm writing. If all goes to plan, control will fit in nicely with this fanfic.  
  
With that said, enjoy the chapter, and again, constructive criticism, no flames.  
  
Warning: slight nudity. There's no sex, no rape, so banish those thoughts from your minds.  
  
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Terra's eyes scanned through the sea of buildings for movement. She shivered against the cold, wishing she had a blanket to banish the cold that stabbed its way into her like knives. Or a special someone... she didn't need to think such thoughts. That would all be possible in time, but right now, she had a mission to accomplish.  
  
She spotted movement in an alleyway below. Landing silently but swiftly on the building flanking it, she proceeded to pursue the shadow below. Leaping from her rock, she lighted on the ground in front of whomever, or whatever it was.  
  
It turned out to be what.  
  
A rabid Doberman pincher attacked with a savage bark, froth streaming down its lips as it pounced at her. Gasping with shock, she lifted the rock that was her platform away from the deranged animal, but it leapt onto the rock and tried to deliver a bite. She kicked it off, which sent her and her assailant falling back to the alleyway. Landing on her stomach, Terra had the wind knocked out of her. The dog, however, landed on its feet, and attacked again, sending spittle everywhere. Its eyes seemed to stare into Terra's soul, and as she watched, unable to move, it seemed to talk to her.  
  
_"Gonna get you, Terra, gonna tear your heart out, gonna feast on your brains, gonna get you gonnagetyougonnagetyougonnagetyougonnagetyouGONNAGETYOU_..."  
  
The voice cleared her head. She rolled out of the way, lifting the section of concrete as she got onto it. She sped off into the night, glad to be away from that monstrosity. She could still hear it growling at her.  
  
It turned out that the dog was growling at her. Terra looked behind her, staring at the persistent abomination that growled in an unearthly tone, fangs gleaming in the moonlight.  
  
It leapt on her, knocking her back. She tried desperately to grab onto the edge, to get away from the demon that possessed the poor animal.  
  
She missed.  
  
Both Terra and the dog fell hundreds of feet to the surface, flailing their limbs in a futile attempt to slow their descents. Terra hit the top of a building hard. She could feel the bones in her leg snap, and she cried out in pain. The agony brought tears to her eyes, but she peered through them, trying to see where the dog had landed.  
  
It wasn't far from her. It staggered toward her, slobber dripping down its lips, its red eyes blazing with bestial rage.  
  
As a small child, she had had a rabid dog chase her, and was always nervous around them ever since. This brought that childhood fear back up from the grave, and she couldn't stop it. Her powers where useless, she couldn't concentrate. She couldn't run, her leg was broken. She could only stare at the insane canine, and hope it would end soon.  
  
Suddenly, she heard a sharp report that took her mind a few seconds to recognize as a gunshot. The dog jerked from the impact, but recovered in seconds and continued its advance. Two more shots rang through the cold night air, and the dog fell over, blood oozing from three bullet holes in its shoulder, chest and head.  
  
Terra looked toward the sound. Her vision was blurred, but she saw someone jump down from a far building top, but couldn't tell who it was. She said the name of the only one she could think of that would save her after all she had done.  
  
"Beast Boy?"  
  
She heard someone land next to her, and whoever it was grabbed her up in their arms and charged off of the building. Rolling expertly on the ground, whoever it was ran as fast as they could down the street. Terra saw the metal chest plate and realized it was Slade.  
  
This was her last thought as she mercifully drifted into unconsciousness.  
  
()()()  
  
Robin watched as Slade ran off with Terra in his arms. He had watched the whole scenario, from the canine's initial attack to where she broke her leg. It was when he saw that she was going to die that he pulled out one Colt from the pocket on the inside of his trench coat that served as a holster. Firing at the maniacal animal, he failed to hit it in a vital area, and had shot it twice more. That felled the rabid mammal, and he left, knowing Slade had been watching to.  
  
"That was for Beast Boy." He said to Terra in the night air as he ran along the street away from Slade. He couldn't face him now, but he memorized the surrounding buildings and the direction he had ran off to. He grinned. _You will lose, Slade._ he thought to himself. _Somehow, someway, you will lose.  
  
_ ()()()  
  
Terra awoke in her room.  
  
She tried to get up, but the pain in her leg made her fall back with a hiss of pain. When the agony subsided, she looked around to get her bearings. She was back at Slade's lair, in her room, and her leg was broken. The door hissed open, and Slade strolled inside. He had a syringe filled with a yellowish fluid in his hand. Terra grimaced. She also hated needles.  
  
"What's that for?" she asked, failing to hide the nervousness in her voice.  
  
"This?" Slade inquired, waving the syringe back and forth, "It is a stimulant that will speed up the healing process of your bones. You took quite a fall back there."  
  
Then she remembered the events of last night. The dog, the fall, the gunshot, Beast Boy...  
  
She hardly noticed that Slade was about to inject the stimulant into her leg. Her eyes widened, and she tried to move away, but only succeeded in moving her broken leg. Fiery fingers of pain lanced through her body as she grit her teeth so she wouldn't cry out.  
  
Slade noticed, and pulled the syringe away. "Terra, I have to inject this directly into your leg, or it won't work." He took on a soothing voice. "I made sure the needle was extra sharp. It will slip in easily. I doubt if you'll even feel it."  
  
He then slowly pushed the needle into her leg. His aim was perfect. It went right to the sight of the fracture. Terra felt the pain of the needle going into the fracture. And she wanted him to pull it out, wanted to pass out, wanted to die...  
  
Then it was over. Slade held the empty syringe in his hand. Terra could feel her bone healing already, and soon found it didn't hurt to move it around.  
  
Slade warned her, "Now don't move too much, or the stimulant will leave the fracture. Just take it easy, and it should be healed by tomorrow. Now get some sleep. I dare say that fight with the dog wore you out."  
  
Slade turned to leave, Terra remembered her mission.  
  
"Master?" she said sheepishly  
  
Slade stopped walking. "Yes, Terra?"  
  
"I'm sorry that I couldn't find Robin."  
  
"Don't worry, my dear. You see, it was Robin who saved you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Yes, it surprises me too. Robin using guns. Colt .45's, judging by the size of the bullet holes he put in the poor animal. Ah well... Get some sleep, Terra."  
  
And, as though he could read her mind, he added, "And I'm sure Beast Boy would have done the same thing."  
  
Slade left, and Terra was left by herself to think. Would Beast Boy have really saved her? She liked to think he would, but what you like and what is real are rarely the same. Still, she hoped that he still would fight for her, despite all that she had done.  
  
She laid her head on her pillow. She needed sleep after her ordeal. But she wouldn't have if she had known what her dreams had in store for her, the nightmares of being chased down and devoured by rabid dogs, while Beast Boy sat laughing at the spectacle, and the other Titans saying the traitor had been punished.  
  
()()()  
  
Raven woke up slowly, the pain in her shoulder nearly unbearable. She felt something fuzzy brush against her cheek, and saw a tabby cat that looked partially filled out. Hearing a door shut quietly. She turned her head to see Cyborg bringing in bandages and first aid supplies. He looked surprised that she was awake.  
  
"I see you finally woke up."  
  
"I wish I hadn't." she said, and the pain in her shoulder suddenly increased tenfold, and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block it out.  
  
Cyborg's face darkened, and he handed her a bottle of painkillers.  
  
Take one of these, it'll make you feel better."  
  
She swallowed the pill with a little glass of water that Cyborg handed her, and then noticed that she was starving for food.  
  
"Is there anything to eat here?"  
  
Cyborg waved his hand in a big semi-circle, indicating the whole room. "Welcome to what's left of the grocery store. There's nothing but food and a few other things here. I can cook something up, if you like."  
  
Raven agreed, and Cyborg prepared some canned soup for both of them. Both teens ate quietly, feeling somber in the pitiful remains of the grocery store.  
  
Raven pointed to the cat. "Friend of yours?"  
  
Cyborg swallowed before answering. "Yeah, found him out in the streets. I couldn't leave him there to die, so I took him along with us. I've named him Socks."  
  
"Why, Socks?"  
  
'Cuz if you look at his foot paws, they're white, while the rest of him is dark gray with darker stripes on his back. It looks like he's wearing socks, so that's his name. Socks." Cyborg grinned at her, and she returned it before going back to eating.  
  
When both where finished, Cyborg told her of her injury.  
  
"The laser passed through your shoulder, burning through the shoulder blade and exiting through your chest," he said, pointing to the hole in her breast, "Because the inside was cauterized, there was no bleeding, however, that also means that the healing process will take close to forever, since it has to remove all the dead cells before it can start to grow. I can speed up the process, but it requires me to sew up the holes in your lung so that it can heal over, which means you'll have to lose the leotard."  
  
Raven thought for a minute, then gave her answer. "Very well. How long will this take?"  
  
"Not too long, maybe about half an hour, depending on the condition of the surrounding tissue."  
  
"All right. Shall we get started?"  
  
"Hang on, let me get my tools ready."  
  
He went to the back of the room, and came back with several scalpels, surgical needle and thread, and various other implements found in surgery.  
  
"Do you want me to knock you out? It will hurt like the dickens if you're awake."  
  
"Alright."  
  
He reached for a can of knockout gas. Raven took off her leotard. Cyborg was grateful that she had on a bra. Triggering the gas, he waited for the fumes to take effect.  
  
When he was sure she was out cold, he began to work. First, he activated his flashlight, so he could see what he was doing. He noticed a large scab forming on her lung. If that got into her lung, it could block her bronchus from receiving oxygen and expelling CO2. That would suffocate her, so he removed it by cutting it out with a scalpel. He then found where the tissue had begun to heal, and pulled this together. He then sewed it up with the needle and thread, careful not to poke anything that didn't need to get poked.  
  
After repeating the process with the other side, he then sewed up the skin, so that the blood vessels could reconnect. He then sat down in a chair and stared out the window, waiting for her to wake up.  
  
Socks hopped into his lap, and he absent-mindedly began to stroke his back. He thought about his current predicament. He was out of communication with the other Titans, Raven was wounded, and Slade's robots where searching the city for them. He was lucky that they hadn't found them already.  
  
He remembered when they didn't need to hide in the shadows, when all they had to do was have fun and stop a bad guy here and there. It was paradise. Then Terra came...  
  
Cyborg frowned at the thought of the geo-user. They had taken her in, let her stay with them, let her be a Teen Titan. Beast Boy was in love with her, Cyborg could tell that. The way he always stumbled over his words when he talked to her, it was obvious to him that he was smitten with the blonde. Then she turned on them, sold them out to Slade. The way she had treated Beast Boy after she revealed her true alliance drove him mad. How could she do that to him, how _could_ she?  
  
He was brought back to reality when Raven started to stir.  
  
"Ugh... that stuff gives you a headache. Finished?"  
  
"Yeah, here's your leo."  
  
Tossing her usual garb at her, he turned around, giving her privacy as she got dressed again. After everything was back in place, Cyborg related to her all that had happened from when he found her to when she first woke up.  
  
After hearing his tale, she nodded thoughtfully. So Slade was hunting them down. There must be something they can do.  
  
"So what do we do now?" Cyborg questioned to the sorceress.  
  
"I was going to ask you the same thing. Do you know where the others are?"  
  
"Nah, I can't get in touch with them. I tried the communicators, the tower, everything. It's like they..." Cyborg stopped talking and seemed to be listening for something.  
  
"What is it?" Raven whispered urgently, she too listening for anything out of the ordinary.  
  
Even Socks had quieted down, as though knowing something was wrong. Looking in all directions, he stopped while facing in between the two heroes. Pinning his ears back, he bared his fangs at the doorway. Cyborg looked at the door, and heard the sound that meant it was no longer safe, that they had been found, that all hope was lost.  
  
The sound of marching footsteps.  
  
Not looking from the door, he gave instructions to his comrade.  
  
"Raven, take Socks and get out of here. I'll keep them distracted while you find another place to hide. Come back here later. If I'm not there, then take Socks and find another Titan. Now go."  
  
"I'm not leaving you here to fight those things alone."  
  
"Get out of here!" he said, more forcefully than before.  
  
"But..."  
  
The wall suddenly was blown in, and androids poured in like ants.  
  
Punching the wall behind him, he shoved her and Socks out the hole he had made.  
  
_"GO!!!"  
_  
Turning his back on them, he armed his sonic cannon. "Come to the party, y'all, everyone's invited."  
  
With a loud battle cry, He charged the robots, His cannon firing here and there, his free arm smashing any and all who came close. Heavily outnumbered, he fought on with the strength of desperation, leaving decimated robots in his wake.  
  
Raven watched as the numbers soon started to take their toll on the mechanical hero. Turning away, she held Socks tightly as she became airborne, shooting off into the night, leaving one of her truest friends behind to either be captured or perish. Tears formed in her eyes, but did not fall down her cheeks. She looked at the cat she was holding. He was looking at where they had left Cyborg, the one who had saved him from starvation. Looking into her face, he mewled sadly, and snuggled closer to her.  
  
Raven slowly petted him, glad to have a creature that knew nothing of killing and war before that day.  
  
()()()  
  
Cyborg watched as Raven and Socks disappeared from view. He looked at the robots that had him surrounded. A grin formed on his face, and a maniacal twinkle formed in his one human eye.  
  
"So it's just us now." said the mechanical Titan, his grin even wider now.  
  
The androids began to close in. Cyborg readied himself for one last battle, determined to take all he could down with him. "I'll bet no one told y'all about Mamma Stone's only son."  
  
He charged to his left, plowing through them like a bulldozer. Robots were scattered left and right as the juggernaut known as Cyborg swung his fists this way and that, destroying many with one blow. Several tried to throw him off balance, but he knocked them aside with ease, sending them hurtling into their own squad mates.  
  
Rounding on the next group, he grabbed two by the head. Using them like clubs, he bludgeoned all that came close. Slamming both his weapons into another android. He tore the arms off another and threw it into a group attacking from the side.  
  
Eventually, he wore out, and soon the robots gained the advantage of numbers. Hitting him with all they had, he was eventually pinned to the wall. One trained its blaster on his head. Hearing the whine of the generator building up a charge, Cyborg closed his eyes, waiting for it all to end.  
  
It never came.  
  
Cyborg opened his eyes to see nothing but the remains of severed androids, some contorted in such ways that Cyborg felt sick to his stomach, even though they were just machines. Looking wide-eyed at the devastation of the store, he stood up. Stepping through the hole that Raven and Socks had escaped through, he looked at his surroundings. The usual rubble from the initial attack on the city was there, but a quick sweep told him that wasn't all this place had seen. Light poles had been wrapped around clusters of Slade's cybernetic minions, dozens where crushed under rocks, and dozens more had been simply ripped to pieces by some unknown force.  
  
Cyborg looked through the slaughter and spied a humanoid figure standing in an alleyway. Walking towards it, Cyborg discovered it was Raven.  
  
She was holding Socks to her chest, her eyes shut tight, almost in a fetal position. Cyborg knelt beside her.  
  
"Raven? You okay? Did you do this?" he quizzed, gesturing to the devastation that surrounded them both.  
  
"Yes." She mumbled, not looking at him.  
  
"Whoa. Remind me not to get on your bad side."  
  
She half smiled as she stroked the sleeping feline she was holding. Cyborg returned the smile. Finally, she was happy. And Raven being happy was worth paying tickets to see.  
  
Helping her to her feet, the two walked off, looking for the others. Socks slept peacefully in Raven's arms, glad that both where safe. The trio continued down the street, hoping to stumble upon the others.  
  
Which was precisely what the other three Titans where hoping for.  
  
()()()  
  
Starfire and Beast Boy had been searching the streets for something to eat. So far, their efforts where in vain. Beast Boy, as an eagle, searched from the air, while Starfire looked in the streets. Beast Boy spotted something on a building top. Soaring toward the object, he landed and became Beast Boy once again. As he got closer, he could see it was dead. An even closer inspection revealed it to be a dog.  
  
Beast Boy felt anger when he saw the bullet wounds in it. But an examination of the mouth revealed that it had been Rabid. Bowing his head, he turned away from the carcass of the dead animal. Once becoming an eagle again, he sped off into the night. He did not know that this was the same dog that had attacked Terra only an hour before.  
  
Starfire was having less luck. The gashes on her stomach where throbbing, each pulse sending waves of nausea to her head. Her body simply didn't have enough energy to both keep her alive and heal the wound. The bleeding had stopped, but she still held her arm over the wound. She didn't know why, but the pressure on it helped to relieve some of the pain. Staggering into another building, she looked around, hoping to see food within the confines of the place. There was none.  
  
Sighing in defeat, she stumbled out of the building to continue her monotonous task. Feeling light-headed, she leaned against the wall for support, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She would die if she didn't get something to nourish her weakened body. Using the wall like a crutch, she continued down the street, with the hope of a desperate person that the next one would have what she ached for.  
  
Beast Boy flew along, not knowing what was happening to Starfire. Riding on the wind currents, he persisted in his quest for food.  
  
Both Titans were thinking the same thing.

_I wish Robin was here._  
_  
  
_ ()()()  
  
At that very moment, Robin was speeding around the city on his R-cycle, looking not for food, but his team. He passed several places that his team might hide in, but so far his hunt had turned up no results.  
  
Cranking up the speed, he turned a corner, straight into the unsuspecting robot army. But not the androids that were in masses all over the city.  
  
These were Elites.  
  
Robin recovered from his shock first, throwing his freeze disk into the front of the group.  
  
The ground froze over in a flash of white, sealing the forerunners feet together. While they struggled to get free, the rest attacked, their laser beams cutting across the space between them and Robin.  
  
Dodging them all, he threw an electric disk at one who was stuck to the ground. It hit the explosive core of the machine, which then detonated, wiping out the rest of the unit.  
  
Robin sailed out of the blast zone, head ducked to avoid any shrapnel that came his way. Stopping after traveling a few yards, he stopped and looked at the wreckage of the former Elite squad.  
  
Heading back in the direction he had been traveling, he passed through the carnage the explosion had left. Hoping that the others were okay, he accelerated, heading off into the night.  
  
Slade watched as his apprentice tailed him like a shadow. He was pleased. Terra had woken up from her nightmares in time to track down the leader of the former Titans. Slade looked on in excitement, watching as his plan began to unfold before his eyes.


	3. Confrontation

Welcome to chapter three. To NNY273000: My intent was to show what I thought about Terra's reasoning, not to spite your review. Insults are not part of my personality. I apologize profusely for the misunderstanding. Now on to chapter three.  
  
{}{}{}  
  
Terra had not been following Robin long before he turned a corner and she lost sight of him. Taking to the skies, she spotted him in the adjacent street. Making a beeline for him, she tried to stay hidden from the speeding teen below. But not many things escaped the Boy Wonder's notice.  
  
Robin triggered the lasers on the R-cycle, the blue bolts lancing out at the lithe blonde. She dodged these, and sped up, trying to catch up to the fleeing Titan. She didn't notice the disk he had tossed with perfect accuracy at her platform while she had been dodging his bolts. It now detonated, breaking the rock into several pieces and sending its rider crashing to the ground. She shot rocks in his direction, but he was already gone.  
  
Slamming her fist on the ground in frustration, she stood up, looking at where Robin had last disappeared. Dusting herself off, she looked at her surroundings. When nothing identified where she was, she attempted to radio Slade.  
  
"Master, I've lost track of Robin, can't figure out where I am. Can you read me? Master? Wintergreen?" taking the device out of her ear, she saw that it had split in half when she fell.  
  
She was lost.  
  
Being more cautious now that she was alone, she slowly backed away from where her prey had last vanished. Turning around, she ran, trying to get away from the Boy Wonder. She knew she was no match for him, so she wanted to put as much distance between her and him as possible. Rounding a corner, she ran into someone. Stumbling backwards, she looked at the person who blocked her way.  
  
It was Beast Boy.  
  
"Beast Boy?"  
  
"Terra?"  
  
Beast Boy looked at her in surprise, which slowly got replaced by rage. "Terra..." he growled through clenched teeth. He had lost Starfire awhile back, and had been wandering around, looking for his missing friend. His original goal got wiped clean from his mind as he focused all of his attention on Terra.  
  
"Look, Beast Boy, I don't want to fight." She said, backing up and waving her hands in front of her in a warding off gesture.  
  
"The time to talk was before you tried to kill us, Terra!" he shouted, becoming a tiger and leaping at her, all his fury and rage at her deception coming out in a violent outburst. Terra didn't know how to stop the infuriated shape-shifter.  
  
"Beast Boy, please..." Terra tried to reason him, but she was knocked back by the green changeling, who took a swipe at her with his claws. He managed a hit, and Terra fell back with a yelp, feeling blood ooze out of the lacerations across her shoulder.  
  
With a look of rage, she retaliated, sending a large section of road at him. Turning into a gorilla, he punched through the rock, seeing nothing but Terra in his maddened state.  
  
Terra threw a barrage of her stone missiles at him, but he ran straight through them, turning into a ram in an effort to bash her. Dodging out of his way, she sent chunks of gravel at him. One hit him hard in the back, but he barely felt it as adrenaline surged through his body. Transforming into a rhino, he charged, aiming to throw her over his head. She dodged him, but that was exactly what he expected. Morphing back into a gorilla, he slammed his fist into her stomach. Terra could feel her bones vibrate as the shockwave traveled through her body.  
  
As she lay there at his feet, trying to regain her breath, he became a donkey and kicked her into a building. She could hear three of her ribs snap under the stress the kick had put upon them. Trying to concentrate through the pain, she managed to toss small pieces of gravel at him. He simply sidestepped out of the way, slapping her in the head as a bear, but not using his claws, as he didn't want to kill the petite blonde. Even so, he accidentally raked her with them, and a trail of blood formed near her temple, but it wasn't deep enough to fall down, like her other scratch was. With Terra fully subdued, he resumed human form.  
  
Terra looked up at him with tears of pain and rage pouring down her cheeks in rivers. "Why, Beast Boy? Why?"  
  
"Why? You dare to ask me _why?!_"  
  
He glared at her, cold fire blazing in his eyes. "You tried to kill us, Terra! You sold us out to Slade, and treated me like garbage after telling you that I loved you! And you ask me why?!"  
  
He kneeled down close to her face. Holding her chin in his hands, he lifted it up until they where eye-to-eye. There faces where mere inches apart. "You played with me like a toy, Terra. I confessed my feelings to you, and you mocked them when you left with Slade."  
  
"But I _do_, Beast Boy, I _do_!"  
  
"And you showed them by betraying us and trying to kill me?"  
  
"I had to, Slade told me to."  
  
"And apparently your feelings for me were strong enough that you would rather obey him than let me live."  
  
"I thought that..."  
  
"You thought that I would forgive you on the spot? That we would kiss and make up and go home happy, and forget all that you had done? It doesn't work that way, Terra. You can't play around with people like that and expect to be able to get them back whenever you want."  
  
"I... I..."  
  
"Didn't want to? You looked happy enough to leave with Slade. You're sorry? I don't know if I can forgive you, Terra. What you've done is enough to make even Starfire doubt that there's any good left in you. Tell me Terra, how can I trust you if none of the others do?"  
  
"Um... well... I..."  
  
But Terra couldn't think of anything. She looked at the ground, as though the answer was right there. But there was no answer. Beast Boy was right. She _was_ evil. How could she think that he would want her back? She bowed her head, her emotions going from rage to pain and sorrow in an instant. She laid her head down on the cold ground, her tears staining the sidewalk as she thought about her life if she hadn't gone with Slade. She would be with Beast Boy, watching a movie as they cuddled on the couch. Not here, her body and spirit broken, having him force her to see the truth.  
  
She closed her eyes, wanted to disappear, to not exist, so she wouldn't have to listen to Beast Boy anymore.  
  
She felt him lift up her head again.  
  
"Look at me, Terra."  
  
She kept her eyes shut.  
  
_"Look at me!!!"_  
  
His shout startled her, and she obeyed, her blue eyes staring into his green ones, ones that used to radiate love and care for her. But now where as hard as the stones she had power over.  
  
"You've done horrible things, Terra. Whether you do something about it or not is up to you."  
  
He gingerly laid her head back down. He took hold of her hand, and gently squeezed it.  
  
"No one is pure evil, not even Slade. I know there is some good in you left, Terra. I hope you can find a way to bring it out." He said, quoting his leader without realizing it.  
  
He stood up, and turned to leave. "Beast Boy..." she reached out toward him, like she could pull him back to her, make everything right again. "Beast Boy..."  
  
When she realized he wasn't coming back, she let her arm drop to the ground. She couldn't believe this was happening. Beast Boy was right, and it was killing her to admit it. She clenched her fist. She couldn't get out of the thornbushes she had thrown herself into when she sided with Slade. But he still believed in her...

He was still within earshot. She used the last of her strength to tell him what she had been waiting to say ever since she had joined up with Slade.  
  
"I love you."  
  
Beast Boy heard her, and stopped walking. Bowing his head, he closed his eyes and smiled. He looked back at her, a half grin on his face. He gave a small salute, so as to show her that he had heard. Turning back, he continued to walk toward the horizon, where Slade's winter had condemned the city to permanent darkness, with only a full moon providing light to see with.  
  
Terra watched him go. Tears continued to fall down her face. Her mind told her that all was lost. She had lost Beast Boy, the Titans didn't want her back, and now she couldn't get back to Slade, the only one who might take her in. There was only one course of action, her mind told her. Only one choice...  
  
She stood up, her chest heaving, her ribs sending agony up and down her body with every breath. Only one way to end the pain...  
  
She hobbled off in the opposite direction Beast Boy had taken. She continued to cry, the knowledge of what had to be done weighing down on her conscience.  
  
Terra kept heading in the direction she had chosen. What she intended to do didn't cross anyone's mind, as she almost dragged her beaten body down the street, the only comforting thought she had was that it would all be over soon.  
  
()()()  
  
Starfire had been wandering alone for some time now. Looking for Beast Boy, she fell into another building. Not seeing him, she shuffled back out, slowly accepting the fact that she was dying. Leaning against the building, she tried to catch her breath, which came in deep pants as she used the wall for support. She laid her head on the wall, trying in vain to find the strength to move.  
  
She didn't notice the Elite that was spying on her, relaying her position to other androids in the area. They silently stayed out of view, watching the Tamaranian resume her search for her missing friend.  
  
They stalked her like jungle cats, their steady approach going unnoticed by the alien girl.  
  
Starfire finally took notice of the robots approach. Looking behind her, she saw nothing. Dismissing it as nerves, she again began to walk down the seemingly deserted street of Jump City.  
  
It came from the left.  
  
Lasers sliced through the air, many missing, but some hitting the straggling girl. Knocked back by the impact, she crashed into a building. A rock hit her arm, and the lack of nutrients had made it brittle like glass. It shattered, but her nutrient deprived brain only felt it as a slow throb. Lying on the floor of the building, she formed a starbolt in her uninjured hand. Sending it toward one of the Elites, it merely swatted it away as though it where a fly, sending another beam at the vulnerable teen. Even though their lasers where set on low power, it hit her with what felt like the force of twenty. She vaguely noticed that they had her hemmed in from all sides. The smell of ozone burned her nostrils, and she heard the squeal of the robots charging their beams to deadly levels. Starfire laid her head down. She no longer had the will to fight. She waited for the inevitable blast that would take her life. She heard their cannons fire, and waited for them to hit her.  
  
They never did. She wondered why she was still alive. After waiting a few seconds, she opened her eyes and looked for the reason that the robots could have missed their target. It turned out to be they weren't aiming at her.  
  
They were aiming at Robin.  
  
Bulling through them like a warm knife through butter, he shouted out a battle cry that made what was left of Star's blood freeze. He gave no quarter, swinging his staff to and fro as he lay waste to the seemingly endless armies of Slade's war machines.  
  
Throwing on into two others, he barreled madly into the next group like a maelstrom of death. Many fell before the furious assault from the Boy Wonder, many more falling to his special disks.  
  
One unlucky android got thrown right into the blast from an Elite. Ignoring its fallen comrade, the Elite powered up its cannon again. It never got to fire it, as Robin threw a shuriken that cut through its motherboard with ease.  
  
Moving an Elite in his way to block a shot, he watched with horror as it hit the unstable core. With mere seconds before detonation, he scooped up Starfire in his arms. Running to the R-cycle as though the Devil himself were after him, he placed her in front of him as he sat down, so that when he grabbed the handlebars, she was safely tucked in the space between him and the front of the bike. Hitting full throttle, he did a wheelie to build up speed. The front wheel came down, and Robin and his charge tore down the street Starfire had been traveling before. He could see the building explode in the side-view mirror. He was stunned by what he saw. The explosion had hit an ammo dump near the building, and had ignited the gunpowder. It would soon reach the bullets, and then everything nearby was going to get pummeled with lead.  
  
Even going top speed, he realized they weren't going to make it. But then a plan formed in his head. Pulling out one of his grappling hooks, he fired it at a light pole that seemed to be there for his purpose. Using the momentum from the bike, he wrapped his arm around Starfire's waist, and kicked the side of the bike with all his might. He swung around the light pole, letting go at just the right moment to sail to the top of a building. Landing on his feet, he threw them both to the ground, protecting her from the path of the bullets with his body.  
  
The fire hit the bullets, and they all went off, flying in random directions as the fire swept over them. Robin could hear the whiz of the projectiles as they zoomed past him like angry hornets. One scraped his shoulder, but he didn't move, for fear another would hit the girl below him.  
  
Finally, the hail of bullets stopped. Lifting his head slowly, he cautiously looked around him. After waiting a few more seconds, he decided it was safe, and stood up to look at the destruction the explosion had caused. The fire continued to rage on, Seeming to take a life of its own as it devoured the inside of the building like a child eats sweets. He stood in awe of how close they had come to death. Remembering Starfire, he looked back at the still form of the alien girl. He walked over to her to closer examine the extent of the damage. There were burn marks in several places where the lasers had hit her. She looked malnourished, and there were three lacerations on her stomach.  
  
He scooped her up again and looked all around him. He needed to find something to feed her, or she would surely pass away soon.  
  
Very soon.  
  
Hopping down from the two-story building, he headed toward the R-cycle, which was remarkably undamaged. Again placing her in front of him, the rode off into the night, the cold fires of vengeance blazing in his eyes.  
  
()()()  
  
Cyborg and Raven had walked in a big circle, ending up back at the store where they had started from.  
  
"Aw come on," Cyborg complained loudly, "How many times have we been here?"  
  
About six." Raven replied blankly, staring at the ruined building.  
  
"I was being sarcastic. How's the little fuzzball doin'?"  
  
Raven looked at the cat that was walking between them, rubbing against their legs and purring loudly. She reached down to pet him.  
  
"Looks fine to me."  
  
Cyborg grinned, then snapped his head up, arming his cannon for action.  
  
"What is it?" Raven asked urgently, standing up and mentally preparing herself for combat.  
  
"Looks like it's.. it's.." His sentence died down as he squinted at the thing running towards them. Seeing who it was, he immediately disarmed his cannon, shouting with joy as he ran out to meet them. He called over his shoulder, "It's BB!"  
  
She too ran to meet up with the green changeling, Socks trailing behind, wondering what all the commotion was about. Slowing to a stop, Raven watched as the two heroes greeted each other in their typical fashion, Cyborg giving the hapless Beast Boy a noogie.  
  
"Man, we've been looking all over for you guys! Where's Robin and Starfire?"  
  
Beast Boy became serious. "I lost Starfire awhile back. Haven't seen Robin since we got smashed by Slade. Y'all had any luck?"  
  
"Nah, we're the only two we've seen, apart from you. Anything happen as of late?"  
  
Beast Boy was about to respond, but he felt something rub his shin. Looking down, he saw the cat Cyborg and Raven had unofficially adopted. He sat down, playing with the tabby, giggling with merriment as the feline licked his face. "Where'd you guys get this little fella?"  
  
"Found him awhile back. I named him Socks." Cyborg said proudly.  
  
"Good one." Said Beast Boy, looking at the paws that had given the friendly animal his name. Lying down in Beast Boy's lap, he fell asleep, head resting on Beast Boy's thigh, purring like an engine.  
  
Suddenly, they heard a loud bang. Looking towards the source, they watched in amazement as fire spewed up like the finger from Zeus himself. Recovering quickly from the beauty and grace of the flames, they ran toward the distant fire, Beast Boy carrying Socks in his arms as he ran with the others to find out exactly what had happened.  
  
Little did they know it was the same explosion that Robin had escaped from not too long ago.  
  
()()()  
  
The above-mentioned Titan was at that moment speeding towards the market they were leaving. He narrowly dodged a chunk of road as he rounded a corner, speeding toward the small store, hoping that at least for Starfire's sake, there was food there.  
  
Seeing a hole in the road, he knew he couldn't get back out if he fell in. Then he saw a car that was close to falling into the chasm. Aiming for the car, a desperate idea formed in his head. Using the car as a ramp, he vaulted over the space, hearing the car crash on the rough bottom of the pit.  
  
Landing on the other side, he resumed his journey to the store.  
  
"Hang on, Star." he whispered in her ear. Soon coming within sight of the place. He leaned forward, trying to get extra speed. Slamming on the brakes, he stopped in front of the small shop.  
  
Kicking the door open, he carried his dying friend inside. It looked as though someone had already been there. He saw two empty cans of instant soup on the floor, and a stove in the far corner. Setting his burden on the ground, he grabbed a bottle of water from a stand rack. Dashing back to his friend, he crouched on one knee next to her, almost tearing off the top of the bottle in his haste to unscrew the cap. Propping her against his raised leg, he poured a small trickle of the life giving liquid down her throat. Holding her head back, she reflexively swallowed the fluid, which washed into her stomach like an angel, sending the stuff rushing through her system.  
  
Giving her another sip, he again tilted her head back. He continued this process for what felt like days, hoping it wasn't too late to save his friend. Checking the pulse in her neck, he noticed it was very low, her breaths getting shallower with each passing second.  
  
With grim determination, he poured another sip of water into her mouth. He wouldn't let his friend die. Staring death in the eye had given him an appreciation for life, and seeing it taken from his best friend was more than he could bear.  
  
Starfire shivered, chill bumps appearing on her arms. Robin saw this as a good sign, as it meant she was alive. Checking her pulse again, he noted that it had increased in strength and number of beats. He let a tiny bit of water hit her head, and she at last groaned as she woke up from her state in-between unconsciousness and death.  
  
Opening her eyes slowly, her vision still fuzzy, she recognized the outline of the face in front of her. "Robin?" she said hoarsely, straining to see if it really was him.  
  
Robin smiled at her. "Hey, Star." He said soothingly. Starfire knew it was him, and leaned against him, tears beginning to fall down her face. He held her close, rocking her back and forth as she cried softly, her worry and sadness flowing out of her like the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. "Robin..."  
  
"It's okay, Star. Everything's going to be okay."  
  
He wrapped his trench coat around the redhead, trying to keep the cold away from her. She couldn't afford to get sick in her current condition. He heard movement ahead of him, and looked up. A lone android stood there, staring at the two with heartless eyes. A blaster was in its hand, but it didn't use it. It was badly damaged. There were several places where the alloy had been torn off, and it was missing an arm.  
  
Robin held Starfire closer to him, protecting her should the thing decide to attack. His eyes narrowed as he stared into the optical sensors of the machine. After another moment of silence, the mechanical fighter walked off, only to collapse after a few steps as the damage to the inside took its toll on the robot. Robin stared at the lifeless form of the android. That had been to close for comfort. If it had used that blaster...  
  
He laid Star on the ground, setting his coat over her so she wouldn't get cold. With her in place, he went outside, and stared wide eyed at the devastation around him. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it earlier. There were what seemed to him like dozens upon dozens of destroyed androids around him. One had been crushed into a ball, another had had a piece of window stabbed in the head. Robin backed into the store slowly, should whatever it was that did this not like him or the girl inside.  
  
He walked back over to Starfire. She was sleeping, but she was shivering, her jaws pressed tightly together. She was still crying. Pulling up a chair, Robin sat down next to her, keeping a watchful eye out for any more robots.  
  
After waiting half an hour, he was suddenly hit with a wave of sleepiness. Yawning into his hand, he laid back in the chair, propping his feet on the counter. He leaned his head forward, and as drowsiness started to close his eyes, his final thought was that he was going to fulfill the promise he had made. His friend had been hurt. And someone was going to pay dearly.  
  
He closed his eyes, knowing in his heart that Slade was the one he was after.  
  
()()()  
  
The three other Titans, unaware of the disaster that Robin had averted, they tried to determine the reason why the building had gone up in flames. Cyborg found an arm of an Elite that was covered in ash, but still discernable. A quick examination revealed several bullet holes in the metal. Cyborg wondered who would tangle with an Elite, but he soon noticed expended shells, as well as the debris from some machine. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the parts belonged to Slade's androids. But the bullets didn't fit in. What could use this many bullets on an army of robots and get away clean, leaving no trace that it had been there at all?  
  
He then noticed a wooden crate that had burned up, only a crackling skeleton of its former self. But Cyborg could read on the side that the fire hadn't devoured yet said AMMO.  
  
It all came together in his mind. An explosion had caused the fire. The bang they'd heard was the flames hitting the gunpowder in the bullets.  
  
Raven came running up to him, worry written on her face.  
  
"Have you seen Beast Boy?"  
  
"No, why?"  
  
"He said something about Terra, then ran off."  
  
"Huh? Where'd he go?"  
  
"That way." She said, pointing down the street. Cyborg stared at where she was pointing, then turned back to Raven.  
  
"Whatever he is, I'm sure he knows what he's doing. Come on, let's go find the others."  
  
Raven nodded, and followed the mechanical man in front of her. A fair distance from the flames, Socks came bounding toward her. Leaping into her arms, she caught him expertly, cradling him in her arms as she scratched behind his ears.  
  
The two Titans left in the opposite direction of Beast Boy, searching for the other two Titans, who at that moment were sleeping soundly, unaware of Beast Boy's mad dash to the coastline, knowing Terra's life was at stake.  
  
He became a cheetah, dashing through the city to where he knew Terra was in trouble. Adding on an extra burst of speed, he hoped to God that he wasn't too late to save the blonde, not from an outside attacker, but from herself.  
  
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And that wraps up chapter three. I won't reveal what's going on between Terra and Beast Boy, but I will tell you that the next chapter is titled "Til death do us part". It felt awkward, writing Terra's final line to Beast Boy. But since I couldn't think of anything better, I decided to stick with it. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and stay tuned for the next chapter.


	4. Til Death do we Part

Welcome to chapter four of Titans Rising. There was a point where I didn't want to continue this story because I thought this chapter seemed much to cliché to be enjoyable. However, I continued to write, and I like how it turned out overall. There are a few points that weren't quite what I had in mind, but I'll fix those in a later edition of this chapter. To Hutchy: I am a Terra fan, as you'll see in this chapter. The section from the previous one was a buildup to the events in this one. There might be some errors in here from when it was uploading, so tell me in your reviews if something here and there is missing. Read on and enjoy.

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The sea splashed lazily on the shore, the melodious crash of its waves pounding the shore echoing around the coastal part of the city. The moonlight shone brightly on the water, making it seem as though it was covered in the finest silk. The stars twinkled in the sky, seeming to dance for anyone who happened to be watching. The mood in the air was serene, able to put even the most aggressive demeanor into a state of relaxation.

All this beauty was lost on Terra. She stared ahead, a blank expression on her face. The surf lapped at her ankles, seeming to attempt to pacify the distraught teen. Their efforts were in vain, for Terra could not be consolidated by mere water. If anything, it would have been Beast Boy, but he now hated her with every fiber of his being. He would be happy if she simply disappeared. And that is what she intended to do. The pain in her body was intense, but it paled to the agony her heart was in.

A slight breeze picked up, sending her hair flapping behind her like a golden flag. It had been perfect when she had been with the Titans. Yet she sold them out to their mortal enemy, and destroyed whatever relationship she had had with them. Especially the one she and Beast Boy had shared.

A tear found its way out of her eye, and it slid down her cheek, falling into the ocean below. She looked at the water for the last time. This was what needed to happen. No one would miss her; no one would even notice she was gone. Her thoughts turned to Beast Boy, the way he had always tried to keep her smiling, the festivities she and the other Titans had shared together coming back as though they had happened only a few hours ago.

She looked back toward the city. Returning the salute Beast Boy had given her as he left, she smiled, but even more tears came to her eyes, knowing he wouldn't ever know the reasons for what she was about to do. No one but herself would ever know.

It pained her to do it, but there was just no other solution. No more was she wanted, no more was she loved. She was just another problem in the world.

She intended to fix it herself.

She picked up a nearby rock with her powers and, using it as a platform, flew to the top of the once proud and sparkling Titans Tower. She flew even higher, wanting to be sure that the mistake that she was got corrected the first time through. She looked over the vast city, the devastation she had created with the help of the androids seeming to urge her on, to end it, to let the city recover from the wound that was Terra.

She continued her ascent until she was about a hundred feet above Titans Tower. She moved her rock until she was over the water around the Tower, water that was so shallow you could even get on your knees in it and not get your upper thighs wet.

She got into a fetal position, saying a small prayer of forgiveness to Beast Boy. Finishing it up with the hope that he had somehow heard her thoughts, she let herself fall from the rock, feeling the wind whip through her hair, caress her cheeks, and send her tears everywhere in her descent to Earth. Whispering a final good-bye, she closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

()()()

Beast Boy was beyond worn out from his mad dash across the city, but he continued on at a steady pace, not letting up an inch as he ran toward Titans Tower.

He didn't exactly know why, but he just felt something… was wrong. With Terra. She had seemed too upset for it to be only his words. The answer had hit him like a ton of bricks

She intended to kill herself.

If possible he ran even faster, desperate to reach her before she committed the act that ended all acts. Passing by their old hangouts without a glance, he soon reached the shore. He was in time to see Terra begin her plummet to the ground below.

_"TERRA!!!"_

She heard his shout, and looked at him, their eyes locking, even over the distance that separated the two. Terra felt even worse now that he had to watch her end the turmoil, but Beast Boy wasn't giving up without a fight.

Or a rescue, as the case may be.

He dashed across the water to where she was headed. Even as a cheetah, he knew he wouldn't make it. He simply couldn't continue on, having expended all his energy on the trip over here. But there must have been other forces at work, for he suddenly was bounding towards the falling girl with speeds that he never knew he could achieve. He leapt toward her, turning back into a human to soften the impact.

Time seemed to slow down as Beast Boy headed sideways while Terra headed straight down. The shape shifter hit her like a cannon ball, and time resumed its normal speed as they both headed toward the ground, but not at the lethal speed and angle Terra had been flying at. They landed in a heap. Quickly untangling himself, he grabbed the girl by the shoulders, and shook her hard.

"What were you thinking, Terra?! _What on God's green Earth were you thinking?!!"_

Terra looked away. She wouldn't look at him, couldn't look at him. She couldn't even face herself, much less Beast Boy. He shook her again.

_"Answer me, dammit!!!"_

Bowing her head, she tried her hardest not to cry. Even so, tears shot down her face, dripping into the ocean below. Beast Boy looked at her with the same rage he had been in before. Only this time, the main reason was fear, not hatred.

Terra tried to think of something to say, but her words wouldn't come out of her mouth. When she finally spoke, it was not the words she had been trying to say.

"I thought you hated me, so I was going to make you happy…"

"By killing yourself?! Terra, even if I did hate you, I wouldn't want you dead. Can't you understand that?"

"But you said…"

"To Hell with what I said! Tell me what made you think I wanted you dead."

"Well, you didn't say it outright, but…"

"But what, Terra?"

She tried to find something that would make sense, but there was nothing. She had tried to commit the irreversible act, and had been caught red-handed. Now that she had to face the consequences, she realized she couldn't.

"Umm… well…"

"Terra, nothing you say can ever justify what you just tried to do. There's no excuse for taking your own life. Ever! You understand me, Terra?"

She remained silent, his words seeming to crack open her very soul.

_"Do you?!"_

"Yes." She mumbled and, no longer able to hold it in, began to sob, her shoulders heaving, the quick gasps of air bringing sharp pain to her broken ribs. "Yes." she repeated, wishing with all she had that he hadn't found her.

"Good. Now look at me, Terra."

Giving in, she forced her head up and stared through the tears at the boy holding her shoulders. He was on the verge of crying too, but managed to keep it in.

"I don't want to _ever_ catch you trying that again, got it?"

"Yes." She managed to say between sobs, as she felt all she had worked toward come crumbling down to mingle on the wet sand on which they now stood.

Suddenly, he pulled her in close, hugging her lightly, so as not to hurt her shattered ribcage. She laid her head on his shoulder, letting all the pain, all the sadness, and all the anger out of her system. Beast Boy held her close, as though she would try to do it again if he let her go.

"You better not." he growled at the lithe blonde, not to intimidate her, but to get his point across about how serious he was. "You better not."

The two stayed that way for a while, with Beast Boy holding the crying girl gently but firmly, while she tried to regain control over her aching body.

Control.

That was what got her here in the first place, what had driven her to this extreme. Reflecting on all she had done, she was sickened by the atrocities she had committed in the pursuit of it. Now that she thought about it, she would have rather not agreed to have gone with Slade. She wouldn't have the control she had now, and she would probably never be able to do the wonders she could do, but at least she had been happy. She pushed her head harder against his shoulder, as though she could hide from the evil she had done in the name of Slade.

Beast Boy helped her to her feet. Putting an arm around her shoulders, he led her back to the city. Terra leaned against him for support, and together they both hobbled out of the freezing water back to dry land. Terra shivered against the cold. The water had soaked through the suit and, to make matters worse, a wind started up, making it all the more miserable to the troubled teen. She moved closer to Beast Boy, who wrapped his arm further around her shoulders. They walked silently, both looking at the road ahead. Neither knew what they were going to do, but it would work out. Somehow, they would work it out.

Beast Boy heard them first. They were moving silently, but not quietly enough to bypass his acute sense of hearing. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he felt more than heard the many presences behind him, each with a weapon aiming at the lithe girl he was practically carrying down the street.

"Look out!" he shouted at Terra, knocking her to the side. Lasers cut through where her head had been only moments before. As both teens looked at the androids, they fired again, keeping Terra as their target. Beast Boy gathered her up and ran down the road away from the androids, only to find the way blocked by Elites. All with their cannons trained on Terra. He heard a voice behind him, and turned around, only to see the androids from the previous attack behind him, effectively trapping the two in a pincer maneuver. The voice belonged to Slade.

So, Terra." He began, his voice dangerously soft. "You've decided to go back with the Titans. There is a price to pay for treason, young lady."

"No." said the girl, putting her hands over her ears in an attempt to block him out.

"Yes, Terra. You paid a price for the Titans, and you will pay a price for me."

"Please…" She begged the notorious criminal, "Please, leave me alone."

"Sorry, Terra." said the villain, his tone dripping with contempt, "But I can't leave you alone. Can't have you telling my secrets, now can I?"

Please.." she repeated, but her words fell on deaf ears as Slade continued to talk, his voice full of malice.

"You betrayed me, Terra. After all I did for you, you betrayed me like you did him." He said, and an android pointed at Beast Boy.

"You can't be allowed to live, my child. You know far too much. I would say good-bye, but then, it's not that good for you, is it Terra? My my, killing yourself would solve all your problems, wouldn't it, my dear? Ah well. Teenagers can do the strangest things at times. Enjoy your last few seconds that you draw breath, though I dare say you'll be locking lips with him as you go down. Farewell, Terra, though you can't do that either."

Slade's voice switched off, and the whine of lasers charging could be heard all around the two as Beast Boy tried to think of a way out.

"Terra." He said out of the corner of his mouth. "I'll break through their lines. All you have to do is hang on. Ready?"

She nodded, and clung to him like a leech. Once again becoming a cheetah, he ran as fast as he could through the Elites, not stopping for anything. Lasers flared all around him, but he ignored them and continued down the street. As he increased the distance from their pursuers, the lasers became fewer in number and less accurate. Finally reaching a safe distance, he stopped his retreat. Turning back to his human form, he turned his attention to the blonde. "You okay?"

She nodded, and the two continued their walk down the street, although Beast Boy was more alert this time through. Finally they reached the burned out remains of the burned building. Cyborg and Raven were long gone, but they walked into the adjacent building and found an old tablecloth. Beast Boy sat down on the floor. Handing the tablecloth to Terra, it served as a workable blanket. Cross-legged, he leaned back against the wall, wishing he had a pillow. He felt Terra curl up against him, and he slid his arms around her. She shivered, trying to keep warm in the freezing building. They both heard the clanking of footsteps outside their building. Holding their breaths, they waited until the sounds had died down, then sighed with relief at the same time.

"Jeez, Terra, what made you want to work for that guy?"

"I dunno. I guess it just seemed right at the time."

"I know the feeling." He said, remembering back to his plan to soak Cyborg in motor oil.

"Terra laid her head on his shoulder, and was soon fast asleep. Beast Boy quickly followed suit, and eventually both teens were in a deep sleep, the recent events taking their toll on the two teens. Both slept peacefully, unaware of all around them as they tried to keep the cold at bay in the unforgiving darkness.

()()()

Robin threw another robot into the line of fire of one of its partners, the beam cutting into it like lightning. Two others headed for the sleeping girl, but Robin kicked them both back into the group that was also advancing on the vulnerable girl. An explosive disk tore others asunder, parts flying like birds in random directions.

Robin noticed too late that they had already won.

Turning with deliberate slowness, he watched as Slade paced him and that of the sleeping alien. "Now Robin," said the cold-hearted tactician, "don't you realize your mistake?" He gestured at Starfire. "You've left the spoils of battle unguarded. Now, what is there to stop me from taking her to wherever I please to do whatever I please, hmmm?" He asked mockingly, the question hanging in the air as though it was weighed down by the evilness of its creator. Robin reached for his bo staff. "There's ME!" He shouted, and charged, ready to swing his weapon at the others head.

"Tsk, tsk, Robin. You will have to learn the hard way, it seems." he said with mock sadness in his voice. Stepping out of the way of the charging boy, he grabbed the staff and aimed it lower.

Directly at Starfire's head.

Robin could not stop, his momentum to great, and could only watch on in horror as she woke up in time to see his staff crack onto her skull, ramming the cartilage of her nose into her brain.

Robin woke up with a terrified yell. Sitting bolt upright in the chair he had been sleeping in, he threw two birdirangs ahead of him. They sliced through the water bottle in front of him, sending the contents everywhere along the counter. Panting heavily, he looked around for Slade, and saw no one. Only he and Starfire were present in the small corner store. Looking at her, he saw that nothing was wrong; it had all been a dream. Or a nightmare, depending on whom you asked.

Robin stood up, shaken by the vividness of it. It had seemed so _real…_Starfire turned over in her sleep. The movement drew Robin's attention to her. She slept on, oblivious to Robin's awakening.

"Dang, she's a _log_ when she falls asleep." He mumbled to himself, picking up the girl and heading back to the R-cycle. It no longer felt safe in the once cozy store.

The two sped off, passing by the building where Terra and Beast Boy continued to sleep, their dreams being nothing like the Boy Wonders had been.

()()()

Cyborg was taking a catnap while, ironically, his new pet zoomed between Raven's legs, trying to get her to play with him. Raven looked at the energetic feline, and settled to petting him when he came close. Eventually, he settled down in front of her, rubbing as much of her as he could reach. She scratched behind his ears, and the animal began to lick her hand, purring like a machine that never shut down.

All at once, he looked behind him, ears straight ahead. "What is it?" she asked the feline, as though he could answer.

It was then that she heard it. The sound was that of a motor, and only one of them that had a vehicle was Robin.

Shaking Cyborg awake, she told him the news. "Cyborg, wake up! It's Robin!"

Cyborg sat up with a groan. _Man, Raven's livelier than I've ever seen._ He thought, hoping she wouldn't read his mind._ What's going on in her head?_

Standing up, he followed Raven and Socks as they went outside to hail him down. Waving his gargantuan arms, he tried to get the attention of their leader. "Yo, Robin! Over here!"

Seeing the two Titans, Robin screeched to a halt. "Where's Beast Boy?"

"Dunno, he ran off looking for Terra not too long ago. Talkin' about she was gonna do somethin', then took off that way." He said, pointing towards the abandoned Tower. "You have any idea what he's after?"

To tell the truth, Robin _did _have an idea about what was going on. But he decided to let Beast Boy tell them. It would be better hearing it first-hand.

"No, I don't. You guys got a place to sleep?"

We did, but we lost the way to it after trying to find BB. Why?"

He pointed to the dozing form of Starfire. "She needs food, bad. Got anything?"

"We just ate the last of it. Sorry, dude."

Robin looked grim more a few seconds. Then his face became inquisitive. "You got a cat?"

Yeah, name's Socks. But that's not important right now. We gotta find some food."

They decided to split up and search for something to get the Tamaranian back on her feet. Cyborg headed towards the coast, while Robin took her in different directions, but stayed close to there meeting point, should one of the others return. Meanwhile, Raven had headed back to the now decimated store. Grabbing several food items with her powers, she sped off towards their rendezvous point, the food trailing behind her, like silent angels following the sorceress.

Arriving at her destination, she placed her cargo on the ground to the side of her, so they wouldn't get squished. Waiting for Robin's return, she sat Socks in her lap and began scratching down his back. He meowed with delight, arranging himself to lay down comfortably, his head coming to rest on her knee. In a few minutes, Robin passed by on one of his routine checks, and saw Raven continuing to pet the sleeping feline in her lap.

Stopping the R-cycle, he quickly got off the vehicle, taking Starfire with him. Placing her by the food, he gently patted her face. "Come on, Star, wake up." He murmured to himself, and soon the girl in question blinked sleepily. Seeing the food next to her, her hunger sprung like a leper out of the shadows, and she began to eat, but not too fast, for she didn't want to overload her shrunken stomach. Nevertheless, she finished it all, turning her attention towards the Titans that were watching her with shock written on their features.

"What happened?" she asked her teammates, and Raven recovered first.

"We were wondering if you could tell us that."

Starfire thought for a moment, then gave her reply.

"All I remember is looking for Beast Boy and being ambushed by Slade's robots. Everything else is blurry. Tell me, where exactly _is_ Beast Boy?"

At that moment, Cyborg rounded the corner of the building they were crowded around.

"Sorry, couldn't find any…" at which point he stopped talking noticing Starfire and the empty containers surrounding her. "Oh."

Starfire reiterated her question. "So where is he?"

"We don't know. He took off after Terra not too long ago. We were hoping you had seen him, but it's obvious you don't know." Raven answered. She got thoughtful, as though trying to think of where they could have gone.

They all jumped as a noise came from around the corner. Robin reached for his staff as Cyborg armed his cannon for combat.

"Starfire, stay here. You two come with me." He said, pointing to Cyborg and Raven. The three crept up to the corner, Robin in the lead, Cyborg behind and Raven in the middle. Robin held up three fingers. Dropping one in a silent countdown, the other two prepared themselves for battle.

When all of Robin's fingers dropped, they bounded around the side, each preparing to strike out at whatever was around the corner. Rocks were sent hurtling at Robin and Raven, which the telekinetic caught before hitting them in the face, Cyborg aimed his weapon at one, and soon found claws on his neck, about to rip out his jugular. Robin's staff stopped halfway to its target. Realizing who it was, he backed down, telling the others to follow his example. Doing as they were instructed, they saw who it was and smiled.

It was Beast Boy, keeping Terra balanced with an arm around her waist.

Beast Boy's look of surprise faded as he remembered Terra's plight. "She's been hurt bad. Got anything for broken ribs?"

"How'd that happen?" Cyborg inquired, and got an elbow to his side from Robin, letting his friend know to not push the matter. "No, we don't." he answered. "We've just finally met up. Star's around the corner. Got any bangs of your own?"

"Only in my leg." Pointing to a burn on the back of his thigh where a lucky shot had hit him. "Its fine. We need to get something for her ribs."

"We'll find what we can. Right now, we need to make a plan. Any ideas?" Robin asked the others. When none answered, he interrogated Terra. "You worked for Slade, so you must know where he is. Where is it?"

Terra shook her head. "I couldn't find my bearings, and my communicator got destroyed. I can't find him, although," she pointed at the burn on Beast Boys leg. "he can find me."

Robin put some thought into this. If Slade could find them as his leisure, that would mean that he had another tracking device on Terra, which meant there had to be receiving end to the transmission it was sending out. Which in turn meant it had a frequency, which could be tracked…

He was trying to find a way to use this to their advantage, when the sounds of battle could be heard around the corner. Tearing back towards Starfire, the initial three hurled themselves around the corner, throwing themselves into the middle of them as the other two brought up the rear.

Raven sent one robot spinning head over heels into an Elite, Cutting through the heads of several more with her powers.

Cyborg smashed his fists through the heads of two androids that happened to be in his path. Slamming the bodies into another, he quickly moved on to the next target, sonic cannon hitting those out of his reach.

Robin was like a typhoon of destruction, his staff seeming to take a life of its own as he lay waste to the masses of Slade's creations.

Starfire had begun the fight, and now that she had her strength back, she was rivaling Robin in ferocity of their assaults. A starbolt took an Elites upper body off, while she kicked the head of an android, sending the body flying from her with another starbolt. Charging into the next group, her eyes blazed green with her alien abilities, as she annihilated the overwhelming masses of robots.

Beast Boy left Terra on the outskirts of the battlefield, and became a lion, an unearthly screech flying over his lips as he slowly swiped and clawed his way through the army of androids, transforming as his situation changed, his antagonists never able to gain the upper-hand over the changeling who was destroying the foes by the dozens. Becoming a horse, he trampled through to a group that had Cyborg hemmed in. the two put themselves back into action, ripping at their numbers as fast as they could, knowing their survival depended on it.

Terra knew she could not enter the battle with the others, so she contended with sending rocks by the dozens into the fray, making sure not to hit any of the Titans as her missiles shredded through the alloy of the robots like it was paper.

What was left of the once invincible army of robots began an all-out retreat. The Titans gave no quarter, continuing to attack them without mercy. Even with their efforts, some managed to slip through. After it was over. The Titans gathered to have a meeting concerning the alliance of Terra.

She stood away from the huddled group, knowing that they were talking about her, even though she couldn't hear what they were saying. Looking at the ground, she waited for their verdict like a criminal awaiting the jury's decision.

Robin started the discussion. "Alright. I'm sure you all know what we're going to talk about, so I'll go straight to the meat and potatoes. Is she faking this time around, or is she sincere?"

The others talked amongst each other about what to do about the blonde that was standing silently as a ghost a little ways away.

"Personally," Beast Boy began, "I think it's obvious where my votes going. But this has to be a unanimous decision, so discuss amongst yourselves." That said, he left the circle and headed back to Terra who he noted seemed quite depressed at the moment.

"What's got you in such a low mood?" he asked the blue-eyed girl that stood before him.

"You think they'll want me back?" she asked, not looking up at him, her voice strangely blank, with the same tone that Raven always had.

Beast Boy stared at her with guilt that they had been so secretive about it, but he cast it aside, answering her question with as much optimism as he could muster. "I don't know, Terra. I'm all for it, but there can't be a split vote. It has to be a unanimous agreement." Terra's head fell even lower, and Beast Boy did his best to cheer her up. "Come on, it can't go that wrong. I'll bet they'll all want you back. It's gonna work out, I promise."

Terra finally raised her head, looking at him with hope faintly piercing through the clouds of doubt in her eyes. "Really?" she asked, the same amount of hope that had been in her eyes being portrayed in her tone. Beast Boy placed a hand on her shoulder. It was at that moment that the rest of the team adjourned their meeting. Walking toward the two, Beast Boy stepped to the side of Terra, whose head once again turned toward the ground after seeing the expression on Robin's face. The four Titans stood in front of the blonde, all turned toward her, there faces not giving any sign of what their decision had been. Robin spoke for them, his voice revealing as much as their faces had.

"Terra." He said, a business like quality about him. "As Beast Boy probably told you, a decision has to be agreed upon by all members of the team concerning important matters, such as whether or not you should be let back on the team or not." He continued on with his explanation, with Terra getting less confident with every word he spoke, almost certain that they had voted not to let her back on the team. "Which is what we have been discussing." He continued on, ignoring her obvious discomfort. "We've debated the issue, making sure everyone had the chance to put their two cents in about it. Our decision is final. Terra…"

The girl in question now seemed glummer than ever, waiting for Robin to say they didn't want her back. Beast Boy clasped her hand in his, squeezing it gently. Terra smiled, suddenly finding the courage to face whatever they had agreed to do about her.

Robin's words hit like a knell. "… we've decided to let you have another chance at proving yourself."

Terra stood stalk still with shock, as she stared at the leader of the Teen Titans, her mouth agape at what he had said.

Robin smiled at the girl. "Welcome back to the team, Terra."

She couldn't believe it. They wanted her back. She looked at them all, then finally Beast Boy. He had a large grin on his face. She turned back to the Titans who were looking at her with kindness toward the geo-user. Cyborg was the one who broke the silence. "So how's the little rock-and-roller ready for some action?"

The others came toward the girl, patting her back and congratulating her for becoming a member again. Starfire gave her a hug, remembering this time to watch her strength so as not to hurt her ribs, for which Terra was extremely grateful. Beast Boy looked on as the other members chatted away with the blonde, who had a look of pure joy on her features. With a small smile of contentment on his face, he followed the other Titans, who were beginning to walk toward the old Tower. He stayed behind the others, wrapped in his own thoughts. Terra was now a Teen Titan, and this time, there was no deception, no planned betrayal, no one pulling strings. This was the real deal. She was not leaving this time. Beast Boy's smile disappeared, and his uncharacteristic serious demeanor returned to the surface.

He would make sure that no one would ever force her to leave again.

()()()

Slade watched as the Titans flocked over his former apprentice. Smiling to himself, he watched as they fell into the trap he had began setting with his employment of the H.I.V.E. Not even Terra knew that she had a part to play in this scheme.

The masked man smiled, seeing how perfectly everything was falling into place.

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That's all for chapter four. Personally, I was surprised with this chapter. I had expected Terra's attempted suicide, but not the detail I put into what was going on between her and Beast Boy. Slade's assassination attempt of her was a bit of bad writing, but necessary for the plotline of the story I have in mind. I don't know if I should end the story in the next chapter or to make it longer, so tell me what you want in your reviews. And what really surprised me was how _long _it was. As of the point in time I'm writing this, it's over five thousand words. Until next chapter.

This chapter was written in loving memory of my father, who took his life this past February. May he rest in peace.

_"Suicide. The permanent solution to a temporary problem."_

-David, father of Daniel, a.k.a. Hoodman.

_"I leave loving each of you by name…"_

-A line from his final note to the family.

So long, dad. You were a matchless parent and friend.


	5. Reckoning

Here's chapter five. I particularly liked this one. A pretty big Terra/Beast Boy chapter. **Warning: Extreme Violence.  
**  
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Robin prodded, tapped, and in general examined all the different parts of Terra's suit. He knew that the transmitter could be anywhere, and finding it would make locating Slade a breeze. All they had to do was follow the path the signal was traveling, and boom. It would be over, it would finally end...  
  
Robin shook his head. That would come in due time. Right now, he needed to get that transmitter. Cyborg was scanning all frequencies available in order to locate the signal itself. So far, his search was in vain. The other Titans stayed absolutely quiet, trying not to distract the concentrating boys.  
  
Robin took a scalpel and, ignoring the cringe from Terra, began to tap all around the suit, being careful to avoid the rags that covered the rest of her. Suddenly, while tapping the S that was the symbol of Slade, he noted that it sounded more hollow than the rest of the suit. Putting his ear to it, he tried to listen for sound, but Terra's breathing was too loud to be certain.  
  
"Terra, hold your breath." He instructed, and she obeyed, sucking up as much air as possible. Now with only her heartbeat making noise, he again placed his ear on the insignia. His blood froze. He heard a slight ticking coming from the inner part of the medallion-type object, and when he tapped it with the scalpel, he distinctly heard the rattling of extremely small pellets, each no bigger than the head of a pin. Robin guessed hundreds, and he froze solid, realizing what it was.  
  
It was a Claymore Mine.  
  
Fear galvanized him into instant action, adrenaline surging throughout his system as he grabbed the symbol and yanked it off the suit.  
  
The others looked at the Boy Wonder with wide eyes. "Robin, what are you doing?" Beast Boy asked him, but his words fell on deaf ears as Robin held it as far away from him as his arms would allow. Throwing it out the shattered window, he threw himself behind the couch.  
  
"Bomb! Everybody get down!"  
  
They would have questioned him but for the urgency in his voice. As Cyborg ducked next to Robin, he saw Socks sitting at the window, watching the mine fly threw the air like a tiny saucer. Cyborg was about to go after him when he saw Raven tackle the cat out of harms way right as the detonator went off. The explosion rocked the Tower, and Robin could only wonder by what had been in that small medallion that could produce such an explosion. He saw that Raven was making a break for the couch. Cyborg reached out with his gigantic arms and pulled her behind the furniture with the others as soon as she was in reach. Had he not done this, Raven and Socks would have surely been dead, for the pellets whizzed through the space that Raven had vacated not even a second ago. Many whizzed harmlessly over their barricade, but some hit the soft couch, penetrating through to the other side. Robin could feel as the pellets bounced off his trench coat onto the floor. Looking at the others, he saw it was happening to the others. The small balls simply bounced off their skin, having lost momentum by passing through the couch. It all happened in the space of a second, but to the Titans it felt like an eternity. After several moments of silence, Beast Boy summed up the courage to cautiously look over the top of the couch. Seeing no danger, he stood up. Looking towards the others, he watched as they followed his example, rising slowly like another pellet might suddenly zoom into them.  
  
Robin looked at where he threw the bomb. He saw that the shockwave had caused small waves to resonate outward, even from the top floor, which was where they were. Quickly recovering from the near-death experience, he stared straight at Terra.  
  
"Come here."  
  
"I didn't do it, I didn't know..."  
  
"I'm not blaming you. We have to see if there are any more traps Slade put in the suit. Now get over here before another goes off."  
  
Silently, she walked over to the couch that she had been lying on. After several sweeps over the suit, Robin found no other explosives, and he and Cyborg continued their search for the transmitter. Socks was trembling with fright, the loud noise of the bomb pounding in his sensitive ears. Raven handed him to Starfire, who began to pet the feline, talking sweetly in an effort to calm him down. Soon, Socks had recovered from his ordeal, again walking around the room, inspecting everything he found.  
  
Cyborg's scanner picked up a signal. "Yo, Robin. Look at this." The Boy Wonder looked up from his work to the massive Titan. "What is it?"  
  
"I think it's the signal."  
  
Walking toward the teen, Robin looked at the screen on his friends arm. He saw a flat-line on the screen. "Are there any words?" he asked the mechanical hero. "Let's find out." Switching on the speaker, he instantly heard static. He was about to turn it off, when words suddenly came out through the static. It was Slade's voice.  
  
"It's about time, Robin."  
  
The static returned, and after a few minutes of waiting, Cyborg switched it off. Robin clenched his fists, Slade's words stinging him like a wasp. Cyborg put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Dude, you all right?"  
  
Robin jumped at his touch. He looked at the massive teen. "Yeah, I'm fine. Did you locate its origin?"  
  
"Yeah, 'bout six kilometers that way." He informed his leader, pointing toward downtown. "But it says that its nine-hundred-fifty meters below the surface. Taking into account our elevation, that almost eight hundred meters below sea level."  
  
"Not surprised. Why would he want a big building? Too easy to destroy. But underground is more protected, easier to defend. We need a plan. Anyone got an idea?"  
  
Before they could answer, the door blew in, and androids flooded the room, guns blazing as they tried to wipe out the Titans.  
  
Cyborg fired his cannon into the advancing army. Several went down with smoldering holes, but many more took their place. The others joined in the battle, and soon there was utter chaos inside of Titans Tower. Aiming at Terra, a few androids released their bolts, hitting her in her legs and stomach, but none mortally wounding the injured girl. They were soon routed by Beast Boy, who bulled into them as a gorilla, swinging his arms to-and- fro, smashing the hapless robots to pieces. Throwing one onto the ground in front of him, he threw it into another who was attacking from behind. Noticing the robots had surrounded him and Terra, he became a tiger, dodging their shots and swiping at them with his claws. Snapping the neck of one with a slap, he bit another one in the same place, tearing out circuits where its jugular would have been. Becoming a bear, he boxed his way over to Terra, who was being overwhelmed by the androids. Not able to use her powers, as their was no rock around, she fought with hands and feet. But she would be taken down by the bots soon, since her ribs were still broken from her fight with Beast Boy. Beast Boy took them from behind, claws slicing into the androids with blinding speed, eyes blazing as he left a trail of scattered parts in his wake.  
  
Cyborg had settled to firing from the safety of the cabinet, sniping the ones who would come up behind his comrade's. Shooting one who was sneaking up on Starfire, he saw another about to fire into Raven's unguarded back. The only problem was Raven happened to be in his line of fire. Without hesitation, he fired at the androids exposed head. Raven saw the beam fly past her head, and felt something land on her back. Whirling around, the headless droid fell to the ground, sparks shooting from the neck like blood. Ignoring the close call, she immediately headed on to the next one, her powers slicing through them as though they weren't there.  
  
Starfire and Robin worked their way towards Cyborg, fighting through to their isolated friend. Arriving at his location, Starfire immediately began adding her starbolts to Cyborg's assault, both shooting with precision so as not to hit their teammates. Robin told them to cover him, and he took off toward Terra, who was still being defeated, despite Beast Boy's rampage. A jump kick sent one flying past her, and his staff smashed the head off of another. Birdarangs and shurikens went hissing through the air, each finding their mark as they brought death to the hordes of robots.  
  
Raven made her way to the two, keeping Beast Boy from being overwhelmed with repeated bolts from her hands. Upon reaching Robin, she snatched Terra up with her abilities and placed her behind Cyborg and Starfire, who in turned attacked more aggressively, since they now had to protect an injured comrade. Robin and Raven made their way to Beast Boy, and together the three went into the middle of them back-to-back, slowly turning like a carousel of death.  
  
Cyborg's group had been pinned down behind the cabinet. No longer able to send as many shots into the enemy as before, they concentrated on the one's firing at them, leaving Robin's group to tackle the rest. Robin knew that they would be overrun eventually unless they could clear out Cyborg's group. He felt the Colts in his coat pockets, and he immediately grabbed them. Firing with the grace of a ballet dancer but the deadliness of a marksman. He spun this way and that, firing the semi-autos as fast as he could. He emptied his cartridges, and not bothering to reload, placed them back into his pockets and brought out an explosive disk. Tossing it at the androids that were firing at Cyborg, it landed perfectly in the midst of them. The explosion destroyed most of the attackers, and the rest soon fell before Cyborg and Starfire's projectiles. With their problem dealt with, they turned their attention to the others, firing madly into the robots that threatened to bring them down. Soon, the androids were pushed back out of the room, and Cyborg ran toward the door, ducked into the man-under-fire position. Arriving at his destination, he began shooting at the robots, and Starfire soon followed his example. Robin was reminded of the first fight, when this same technique had nearly failed. But this time the momentum was in favor of the Titans, and they gave no quarter. Beast Boy, having no projectiles, headed back to get Terra. She was leaning against the wall, the cloth burned away in several places, exposing charred skin beneath. Beast Boy knelt next to her.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
"So far, so good. How's the fight goin'?"  
  
Beast Boy grinned. "So far, so good."  
  
Terra returned the grin, but it quickly changed to a look of horror as she stared at something behind Beast Boy. He turned around to see Slade himself standing between them and the Titans. Beast Boy looked to where the others had been, but they had moved down the hallway, out of earshot. They were alone. And Terra couldn't fight an android, much less Slade himself. The masked villain began to speak.  
  
"So, you managed to escape from my drones, mmm? Quite extraordinary. Not many have escaped from a company that size. Not that many have tried. Well, it seems you bought her a few hours Beast Boy, but this ends now."  
  
He pulled out his staff. Extending the weapon, he pointed it at Terra.  
  
"You shouldn't have run, child. You have already given the location of my headquarters away. What else will you tell them, Terra? Perhaps ways to bypass my security systems? I let you pursue Beast Boy, and you betrayed me when I was willing to risk exposure to let you be with your boyfriend." His single eye glared at her, sending fear of the juggernaut through her body, and she scooted closer to Beast Boy, who protectively held her, returning the glare with as much intensity as Slade's.  
  
Slade scoffed at her move. "You expect him to protect you, Terra? I'm surprised he even wants to. You tried to kill him, you destroyed his home. His feelings for you must be extremely strong." His voice became full of malice. "But he cannot protect you. He couldn't then, he can't now." he said, referring to their fight at the amusement park. "Child, you don't deserve life."  
  
"And I suppose you do?" Beast Boy interrupted the masked man. Slade turned his attention to him.  
  
"Yes Beast Boy, I do. You see, I don't think Terra has quite told you about her past. About the thousands upon thousands she has killed in cold-blood, and blamed it on her powers. And it's true. She didn't have control. But still she continued to use them, constantly losing control just to see people die."  
  
Slade's again glared at Terra, but continued to speak to Beast Boy. "Men, women, children, the old, the weak, the sick, it didn't matter to her. She lives for the kill, nothing else."  
  
He continued on, his look intensifying as he stared cold fire at the blonde. "She would travel from city to city, playing like she was a poor innocent traveler, weary from a long journey."  
  
Slade looked back at Beast Boy. "They would happily welcome her into the city. And when she was done there, she would cause some sort of disaster. Perhaps an avalanche, or maybe an earthquake. She would purposefully lose control, causing an accident that would kill the residents. Their screams were music to her ears. She would laugh as the survivors would try in vain to free their loved ones from the devastation she had caused."  
  
He spoke to Terra. "It was a thrill, wasn't it murderer? You enjoyed their suffering like a child enjoys candy." He returned to Beast Boy. "And she would repeat the process at the next city she came across. However, then she arrived here. She knew about the Titans, knew they would pose a threat to her entertainment."  
  
Slade again spoke to Terra, hatred present in his voice. "So you befriended them, made them think you were a good guy. You never mentioned your past, and unfortunately, they never asked. But you slipped up." He faced Beast Boy. "She revealed that she couldn't control her powers. She made you swear not to tell, since you would try to stop her if you knew."  
  
Slade spoke to Terra. "So you wanted to join up with them. What better alibi than to be with the Teen Titans, the heroes of the city? Which is where I found you." He snorted. "I thought I might be able to turn you from the path you had set on. But you refused. You didn't want to stop, did you?"  
  
Terra had started to cry silently, but Slade ignored her, and turned back to Beast Boy. "But then Robin found out. And her trust in you was so strong that she didn't even give you the chance to respond. And she came to me. How foolish I was, taking her in. I should have known that I couldn't save her from what she had become."  
  
He again began to talk to Terra, glaring at the cowering girl like a judge glares at an obviously guilty convict. "You wanted to get even with Beast Boy, didn't you, Terra? You wanted to get revenge on them for spoiling your good time. I took you in, helped you control your powers. And when I was ready to strike, you took Beast Boy out on a date. You tried to connect with him, get him to love you, which would make killing him all the more fun. But by then, I had begun to see the error of my ways. I tried to make Beast Boy hate you, so that if you did manage to kill him, he wouldn't feel too much emotion. I pitied him, Terra."  
  
He stared her in her eyes, and she looked away from him, burying her head in Beast Boy's chest. "But I was too late. His feelings were strong enough that even through my best efforts, he still retained some love for you. But despite this, I foolishly continued onward with my plan. I ordered you to attack the Tower, and it nearly sickened me how enthusiastic you were. You thought you had killed them, but you didn't. I was almost relieved that they had survived. And you tried to use Beast Boy's love for you to save your own skin."  
  
He turned to Beast Boy. "She obeyed my every request. She would have leveled the city, had I not insist that it remain standing. Even then, I was shocked by the chaos she caused. So I sent her on less violent tasks, such as tracking you down. I foolishly allowed her to try to get back with you, hoping your feelings for her could do what I could not."  
  
He shook his head sadly. "Alas, you could not. You understandably struck out at her on sight. Being what she is, she struck back in anger, but you beat her. That speech you gave impressed me. I had hoped that it would change her."  
  
He again turned back to Terra, but kept talking to Beast Boy. "But it didn't work. She betrayed me, and I saw she was beyond any hope of recovery. So I sent out a company of soldiers to dispose of her. But you helped her escape, and she has eluded me until now."  
  
He continued to look at Terra. "She told you that you couldn't understand her." He shifted his gaze to the green changeling. "Now you do."  
  
"You lie." Said the changeling.  
  
"Am I? You said the exact same thing when she betrayed you. And it was the truth. There was no reason to lie then, and there is no reason to lie now. She is insane. I must destroy her before she causes any more harm."  
  
He got in a fighting position. "All those that you killed are watching us, Terra. They are ready for their killer to die, so that they can finally rest. For their sake, I shall execute you like the scum you are. Not even Hell is enough punishment for what you have done, but it will have to suffice. Good-bye, murderer."  
  
Slade thrust his staff at her, aiming for her throat in order to make it a clean kill. Terra held on tightly to the shape shifter. She knew that he was wrong, she knew that he was lying, but for some reason, she thought he was right.  
  
Beast Boy's hand caught the instrument before it could reach her.  
  
Slade looked at him. "Let go, Beast Boy. This is what needs to happen. She must die. She will do the same thing to you and your friends if she lives. Countless souls are watching us as we speak, Beast Boy. They are ready to see her reign of destruction end. She will leave you, Beast Boy. And she will kill you, like all the others. It feels wrong even to me, but it must be so. Let me put their souls to rest. Release the staff."  
  
Beast Boy looked at Terra. He could tell by the way she was jerking that she was crying. His eyes began to become as hard as stones. He looked at Slade.  
  
"Your right."  
  
Terra stared up at him. "Beast Boy..." She started, but he simply pushed her away. She slid across the floor, bumping into the wall that the cabinet was attached to. She laid her head on the ground. Slade had won. She was going to die. And Beast Boy now hated her. She heard Best Boy speak. "But one question still bothers me, Slade."  
  
"What is that?"  
  
"What on earth made you think that I would actually believe you?"  
  
With that, he became a gorilla and punched Slade in the gut. Slade flew across the room, landing on his feet, still breathing normally, despite the pain in his stomach, which disappeared within seconds. Standing up, he glared at the green ape that stood between him and his quarry.  
  
"Beast Boy, do you not see reason? She is evil. She betrayed you, she betrayed me, she has killed thousands. What makes you think she deserves life?"  
  
"Because I don't believe you. And even if I did, I still wouldn't let you. I love her, and if she did do those things, she has changed. You just can't see it. She would not kill someone even to save her own life. I, on the other hand, would."  
  
Transforming into a tiger, he pounced at the man standing before him. Slade dodged out of the way, striking him in the back with his staff. Unfazed by this, Beast Boy struck out with his claws, but the man grabbed his paw and slammed him on the ground. Beast Boy threw off the man, and bit at his leg, attempting to lame him. Slade's staff smashed him in the head, sending the green boy back to the ground, seeing spots like he had just got his picture taken. Slade raised his staff to finish him off, but then a rock knocked him off-balance. Beast Boy looked up to see Terra standing up directly in front of the window, her hands glowing yellow, panting hard as she tried to stay conscious.  
  
With a growl that soon became a shout, Slade charged her, staff at the ready. Beast Boy tried to stop him, but Slade simply swiped him out of the way, not even slowing down as he headed towards his former apprentice. He swung at Terra, his staff connecting with her broken ribcage. She flew back and hit the glass, not quite breaking through, but cracking it severely. Before she could slide down to the floor, Slade was upon her, punching the girl with all his might, which was considerably strong, and painful to its recipient. Terra could feel the glass behind her start to give way as Slade had her pinned to the wall with his volley of fists. Soon, he stopped his raging assault. Watching her slump to the ground, he picked her up by the head. He reared back his arm, ready to throw her through the window.  
  
Beast Boy barreled into him like a cannon ball.  
  
As an ape, he was trying to smash Slade's head when the man slipped between his legs and delivered a sweep kick, knocking the enraged primate to the ground. A hard stomp to the back followed. After waiting a few seconds to see if the boy would get up again, he returned his attention to Terra. She was trying to get to her feet when a kick from the masked man sent her rolling across the room. Slade chased her as she hit the wall, and picked her up and smashed her against it again. Throwing her into the counter, she hit her stomach, knocking the wind from her. As she tried to regain her breath, Slade grabbed her by the throat and ran towards the wall. He slammed her back into it. He threw her onto the floor. Terra tried to move, but she felt his fist slam the middle of her back. She made a weak noise, but still tried to get away from the crazed man. Blood ran from cuts that were all over her body. Her ribs were in agony, but it paled to the pain in her back. Slade kicked her in the gut, and she went flying across the room to land near the couch. She could hear several bones in her arms and legs snap, and it sent agony shrieking up her body. Slade approached her again, murder showing in his one eye.  
  
"You have lived far past what you should have, Terra. It's time to go to your eternal punishment. But not yet. Your mortal consequences are only beginning."  
  
He grabbed her leg, and threw her upwards into the air. As she came back down, he punched her into the wall, and she fell face first to the ground. She couldn't move, couldn't see clearly. She could only feel as Slade grabbed her broken arm and twisted it. She cried out in agony, but was slammed into the ground repeatedly by the deranged man. Letting go, he stood back from her, for some reason giving her a breather. She used her good arm to head towards the still form of Beast Boy. Before she could reach him, Slade began his attack, grabbing her legs and throwing her across the room. She landed in a crumpled heap, not crying, but tears were running down her face. She picked up the rock she had used earlier, but he merely caught it and used the momentum to throw it back, hitting her shoulder. Leaping into the air, he intertwined his fingers and brought his hands slamming into her stomach with enough strength to put a dent in the floor. A kick to her side sent her sprawling over the floor, and a stomp to the chest finished the fight. At least on her end.  
  
Slade again backed off, and she took this time to try to catch her breath, though it sent waves of agony through her ribs to do it. Seeing one last hope to stop his senseless assault, she grabbed a section of rock from the ground below. Using all her concentration on bringing the rock to the window, she didn't notice that Slade had discovered her trap, and was waiting for it. Sending the rock at him when it reached their level, she watched as he put his hands out and stopped its advance. Soon, he grabbed the boulder and rolled it at Beast Boy. Terra managed to stop it, but she was unable to stop the kick to her stomach and the following elbow to her shoulder as she left the ground. Subdued beyond comprehension, she didn't even try to stop him from tossing her into the boulder, which shattered with the impact. He caught her by the throat on the rebound, and slammed her into the ground next to the window. Slade went to pick up the staff he had dropped when he had first hit Beast Boy. He walked toward the girl, malice twinkling from his eye as he spoke with finality in his voice.  
  
"It's now time for the earthly punishment to end, and the unearthly to begin. Good-bye, murderer."  
  
Slade raised his weapon above his head, ready to bring it down on her head. Terra closed her eyes and waited for it to end.  
  
Beast Boy struck him like a thunderbolt.  
  
Terra watched as the insane man that was Slade and the green raptor that was Beast Boy go sailing through the window as though it wasn't there. She watched helplessly as they went tumbling to the ground below. She heard the screams and roars of their battle as they fell to their deaths. The sickening thud of one of them landing on the unforgiving rocks came up to her ears, and she began to pray that it wasn't Beast Boy who had met his fate on the sharp rocks below.  
  
Her prayer was answered when Beast Boy as a hawk came flying through the hole that they had made. Turning back into human form, he ran to her beaten body. He knelt next to her and held her close. She broke down, tears falling down her cheeks as she cried what tears she had left into his shoulder.  
  
"It's okay, Terra." He said softly to her. "He's gone, gone forever. It's okay."  
  
Terra couldn't believe it. He was dead. Slade was dead. She wrapped her arms around him, hoping that the nightmare was finally over.  
  
Beast Boy picked her up. She needed medical attention, and she needed it now. He heard her try to say something, but he shushed her. "Shhhhhh. Save you strength for living, not talking. Don't worry. He's gone. It's okay now."  
  
She wished that it was over, but she knew that it wasn't over. She knew the nightmare was still going. She didn't want to admit it, but she also knew that Slade wasn't dead. He was still alive. She buried her head in his shoulder. The nightmare wasn't over. The nightmare would never be over. Terra felt Beast Boy carry her along the halls to the Titans that where somewhere in the Tower, unaware of what had taken place in the floors above.  
  
()()()  
  
Cyborg shot another robot in the head. He looked all around as he waited for the next attack. They had nearly routed the robot army, having the advantage of terrain and superior skills on their side. Cyborg heard footsteps coming from the stairway behind him. Walking toward the entrance. He put his back to the wall, ready to jump out and blast whatever it was to Kingdom Come. Timing his move by the sound of the footsteps, he whirled around the corner and aimed his cannon.  
  
Straight at Beast Boy and Terra.  
  
Cyborg quickly deactivated his cannon. Staring wide-eyed at Terra's condition.  
  
"Whoa. What happened to her?"  
  
Slade, replied Beast Boy. "He got in while y'all where distracted, but that doesn't matter. She needs medical attention, and I mean now!"  
  
"We'll get it as soon as possible, but we won't be able to do much. She needs a doctor, and I don't think any of us got a Ph. D. I'll get y'all to the others, but don't expect Raven to help. She's out cold from when a section of ceiling hit her on the head. Come on, she's gonna die if she's even tapped. Let's go!"  
  
Again arming his sonic cannon, Cyborg went ahead of the two, now more careful than ever now that Terra was in the state she was in. They met no droids on the way to the safety of the others.  
  
As they came into the ground floor from the elevator, Beast Boy saw the rest of the team in the center, being on the lookout for more of Slade's minions. Starfire noticed Terra's condition first.  
  
"Oh, Beast Boy, what in Drenthorg happened?"  
  
"Slade happened. Long story, but right now we need to get medical attention for Terra."  
  
Robin looked at Terra, his mind seeing the entire fight as he surveyed her wounds.  
  
"We'll get her something as soon as possible. We'll go after Slade, Beast Boy, stay..."  
  
"Dude, Slade's dead."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"He fell from the top story. Nothing could survive that, nothing."  
  
"Apparently Slade can, because we just saw him running back to the city."  
  
Beast Boy looked shocked. He had seen him hit the ground, had heard his body break. How could he have survived?  
  
Terra stirred. Beast Boy remembered the problem at hand, and turned to Robin.  
  
"Whatever, just what are we going to do with Terra?"  
  
"Find some bandages to put on those wounds, for starters. You stay here with her, we'll go after Slade."  
  
"What about Raven?"  
  
"We'll bring her to. I assume Cyborg told you what happened?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Anyway, we're going to wake her up before going in there. I don't want to be caught down there without her. We'll be back as soon as possible with some medical supplies. Just hold out here 'til we get back."  
  
Beast Boy nodded, and the other four Titans went off to take on Slade. He carried Terra with him as he searched for some bandages, lest there be another attack. Finding some in a closet, he began to apply the pads to the wounds, sterilizing the cuts with a soapy washcloth. When Terra was done, she had only a few bandages, as Beast Boy decided that the small cuts would be fine. Taking her to the top story again, he set her on the couch, and sat down next to her. Terra soon woke up. She tried to sit up, and fell back with a hiss. Beast Boy looked over at her.  
  
"Need somethin'?"  
  
Terra tried to talk, but couldn't get the words to come out. Finally she managed to croak, "Water."  
  
Beast Boy went to the kitchen and got a glass of water from the tap. Bringing it back, he helped Terra to sit up, and monitored how much she drank at once. When the glass was finished, she slowly handed it to Beast Boy, who put it in the sink for future washing. Sitting back on the couch, he asked if there was anything else. She shook her head, but then began to cough, and a small trickle of blood came out of her mouth. Wiping her lips, she saw the red liquid, and leaned on his shoulder and tried not to cough any more, shivering with a mixture of cold and disgust. Beast Boy saw the blood, and went to get the glass again. Refilling it, he gave it to her so she could wash out her mouth. Swishing the water around, she spat it back in the cup, keeping her eyes closed so she wouldn't see any more blood. He took the glass and rinsed it out, again leaving it in the sink. Returning, he sat down next to her, and she laid her head on his shoulder, trying to stay warm from the small breeze that had started coming through the broken window. Suddenly, waves of nausea hit her, and she threw up onto the floor, vomit mingling with blood as she got it out of her system. She didn't throw up too much, but enough to leave a puddle on the ground in front of her.  
  
She began to cry, feeling worse than she had ever felt. Beast Boy rubbed her back, trying to get the nausea to pass. He went back to the kitchen and got another glass. Getting water yet again, he brought it back to her, again to rinse the taste out of her mouth. When she was done, he just put it to the side. He began to rub her back again, trying not to put too much pressure on her damaged back. Terra felt better as he continued to rub her back. The aches from Slade's manic attack pounded, each throb nearly making the nausea return. She managed to keep it back, but the throbbing sensation steadily got worse and worse. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to drive away the feeling. But it continued to worsen, and it was all she could do to not vomit again.  
  
She laid her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around her. ''You're gonna be fine." He reassured her, and held her firmly, his body heat fending off the cold from the frail frame of Terra. Beast Boy laid his head back, thinking about the recent events. Slade had survived the plunge from Titans Tower. Terra was beaten close to death by the mad man. And now he was being tracked down by the other four Titans. Beast Boy felt Terra shift beneath his arm, trying to stay alive from the beating she had taken. Beast Boy went to get a blanket and pillow from his room. Coming back with the two items, he handed them to Terra and had her lay down. He went to get a rag to clean up the vomit. After getting most of the bile out of the carpet, the room smelt quite a bit better. Soaking another one, he placed it on top of her forehead. He looked like a parent caring for a sick child, which was not that far from the truth.  
  
Beast Boy went back to the kitchen and was about to get a tofu burger, when he thought that eating in front of Terra was not the smartest thing to do. Putting it back, he began to pace behind the couch. He didn't know why, but something didn't feel right. Like something was out of place. The answer came in the form of a single android leaping down from the ceiling. Before it could hit the ground, Beast Boy had already smashed it into the ground, crushing the head of the robot. Becoming human, he looked around for more, but saw none. Settling down, he sat down on the floor next to Terra, keeping clear of the spot where she had been sick. Terra looked at him.  
  
"Beast Boy?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Why didn't you let Slade kill me?"  
  
He was dumbstruck. "Isn't it obvious? He was lying, and I didn't fall for it."  
  
"No, he wasn't."  
  
"Your telling me that you killed those people out of fun?"  
  
"No."  
  
Then what's the deal? I couldn't care less if he had said you were going to blow up the Tower, no, the whole city. Slade just can't understand emotion."  
  
"So you don't..."  
  
"No."  
  
"And..."  
  
"Terra, let me put it simply. _I do not care._ You killed those people on accident. You are not a murderer. You couldn't be. It's not in your personality. Slade was just trying to get to you. Looks like it worked."  
  
She smiled, and soon was fast asleep on the couch. Beast Boy smiled at her. She was happy, even through all the pain, she was happy. Socks, who had hidden inside the cabinet during the invasion, leaped gracefully onto the couch near Terra's head. He sniffed her, and soon began to softly lick her wounds, snapping his head up at the slightest noise. Like a mother protecting her kitten. Thought Beast Boy, and his smile broadened. Terra looked at the feline that was licking all the scrapes and bruises on her face. When he was done, he hopped off the couch and began to walk around the room, checking under furniture as though there might be another android lying in wait.  
  
Terra shivered, and brought the blanket tighter around her. Beast Boy stroked her head, watching the antics of the cat as it began to sniff the carpet like a bloodhound. The three waited patiently for the return of the others, hoping that their mission would be a success. The fate of the city may be depending on it.  
  
()()()  
  
Two androids patrolled the halls of Slade's dominion. Coming to a doorway, their sensors picked up movement. With an automatic switch to thermal scanning, they entered the room to inspect for intruders.  
  
Both were decommissioned when two of Robin's grappling hooks went through their heads. Pulling them up to the crossbeam he was crouched on, he expertly unhooked the grapples and signaled to the others to advance. Cyborg went first, cannon at the ready, followed by Raven, who they had woken up before entering. Starfire brought up the rear, and together they advanced towards the inner catacombs of the madman's realm, being extra cautious now that they were in enemy territory.  
  
Two Elites rounded the corner. Starbolts ripped through them, sending them to the ground with gaping holes in their chests. Continuing on, they soon reached the lower levels. Robin stepped towards a door at the end of their hallway. It hissed open, revealing something that made Cyborg's mechanical body seem as complicated as a light switch.  
  
A massive supercomputer in the center of the room, with wires connecting to the walls as it ran countless functions at a time, everything from the lights to the robots that patrolled the halls. Various sensory equipment were placed at various locations around the cylindrical behemoth, and many mounted turrets were visible all around the thing, and scattered chutes with hangar-type doors that looked as though they opened from the middle vertically, and Robin could only speculate their purpose. The ceiling was out of sight, and so was the top of the computer.  
  
The sensors picked up thermal and sound readings from the entrance. A bio- scan confirmed their identities. An alarm began to sound, and the turrets powered up. The hangar doors opened, and masses of small attack drones similar to the ones they used in training poured out, locking on to the Titans and sending laser fire their way.  
  
The teens scattered and began trying to hold off the air raid, and soon the air became covered with a flotilla of color as they exchanged fire with the leviathan computer. The defenses were soon decimated, leaving a battle- scarred room behind. The Titans had been hit in various places, but all were still capable of continuing on. They ducked out of the room, only to meet masses of droids that had responded to the alarm. Robin saw only one course of action.  
  
They had to destroy the computer.  
  
Filing back into the presence of the giant, Starfire took Robin on towards the top of the room. Raven and Cyborg followed them, with the mechanized teen sending shots at the computer while Raven dodged the return fire, trying to continue the ascent to the top of the room. Upon reaching their destination, they found that there was no way to penetrate through the black armor of the thing. They ducked over a ledge that circled the inside perimeter of the room that was the same shape as the monster it harbored. Various terminals and monitors were positioned around the edge toward the inside, and these provided decent cover from the turrets. Seeing a door, Robin and his team rushed through it. Slamming it as the drones crested the computers, they turned to find themselves in the main control room, with the man himself sitting at the controls. Not looking up from the monitors, he spoke to them, his tone once again calm, not with the cold madness that had possessed it earlier when he had nearly killed Terra.  
  
"So you finally have arrived to my humble abode." He said, turning to face them, his single eye glancing casually at the teenagers who stood before him. Standing up from his chair, he extended his staff once more.  
  
"Now, Titans, where is Beast Boy, pray tell? Trying to save the life of the traitor, no less, hmmm? Unfortunately for him, she won't survive."  
  
"Yes she will." Growled Starfire, teeth grinding against each other as rage began to possess her.  
  
"I'm afraid your wrong, my dear. You see, I could simply send more androids to your precious tower, and have them tear it to the ground. Beast Boy can't hold them all off, at least, if he wants to protect the murderer too."  
  
"Your insane." The Boy Wonder snarled, extending his own weapon, but not attacking.  
  
"Not really, my former apprentice. You see, Terra _is_ a murderer. She has killed countless masses in the name of fun. I won't tell you in the detail that I explained to Beast Boy, but I will let you know that your friend is the one who is mad, not me."  
  
He continued to speak to the group, not moving a muscle as he told them the story. "Terra's pleasure comes from death. But you would have stopped her if you knew, so she played the part of the poor misunderstood heroine, leading you to believe she wanted to gain control. What fools you were. I'm disappointed in you most of all, Robin. Surely you must have figured it out. But I digress. She would have killed you all, had I not intervened. But Beast Boy stopped me from finishing her off. I would return to the Tower post-haste. She might have finished off the changeling as it is."  
  
Robin clenched his teeth. What Slade had said was probable, but it couldn't be true. Terra wouldn't harm Beast Boy... would she?  
  
He turned his back to Slade. "Come on, we have to make sure."  
  
The others stared in shock. "Robin? You actually..."  
  
"No, but I wouldn't put it past her. She may be trusted by Beast Boy, but the past cannot be forgotten."  
  
"What about your past?" Starfire inquired him, her voice blank as she reminded him of his time with Slade.  
  
"He would have killed you if I hadn't. There's no motivation for Terra to work for him. She went of her own free will, I didn't. We have to check it out."  
  
He looked to Slade. "I don't care if your right or not, we will be back, and we will end this once and for all."  
  
"I look forward to it Robin. But I would hurry back. She might be done already."  
  
Pushing a button on the console, the alarm stopped, and the door to the exit opened. "I would stop staring and leave, if I were you."  
  
Robin led the Titans out of the building, and they met no robots on the way back. Exiting into the night, they all ran as fast as they could back to Titans Tower, seeing the logic in Robin's words.  
  
As Titans Tower came into view, Robin swore that Terra would pay tenfold for every scratch he found on the changeling.  
  
{}{}{}  
  
Whew. Finally done. Over 7,000 words on Microsoft, and hopefully no words were lost during the upload. I won't explain Robin's reasoning, as I think the story tells all you need to know. 'Til next chapter. 


	6. The Final Battle

Here is chapter six. The story is ending soon, but I might put in a sequel that is strictly a Beast Boy/Terra relationship fic. No, not a fluff fic, there will still be the action/adventure genre, but perhaps with romance instead of drama. Tell me in your reviews whether or not I should drag out this story for a little longer or not, but it is close to the end. With any luck, I'll add maybe 3-5 more chapters, but no more.

To NNY27300: I know Slade came to her, but I was referring to when she left after accusing Beast Boy of revealing her secret. And even if she didn't, it's Slade. He manipulates words to his advantage. Many thanks for the praise, and I _would _make this into a movie, if not for the fact that I can't draw stick figures that look like stick figures. But maybe Torres will read this and add it into the comic series (not the one from the 1960's, but the one they are running in conjunction with the cartoon). A fantasy, but there is a slim chance.

Anyway, I've started to feel that the story is getting stale. Perhaps to y'all it's not, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm trying to draw water from a dry well. It goes away once I get into my writing, but the first 2 pages or so just don't feel right. It's probably just me.

To all Cyborg/Raven fans: I'm sorry, but I can't find a way to set them together. I write what I see in my head, and them being together just won't work. However, in an attempt to pacify your sadness, I will add in tidbits here and there pointing toward their possible love relationship, but it won't become full blown smooching in a dark alleyway. But I will do my best to make it a point that there is something deeper than simple friendship between them. I'll do this with another reference to Stephen King.

With Terra being attacked by a mad dog, I was talking about the

_"Gonna get you, Terra, gonna tear your heart out, gonna feast on your brains, gonna get you gonnagetyougonnagetyougonnagetyougonnagetyouGONNAGETYOU_..."

line, but now that I think about it, it is a good reference to Cujo. But I stray from the point.

To those who don't know: Slade does have powers. They include, but are not limited to- ability to use 90% of his brain, enhanced strength and reflexes, and knowledge of almost all forms of martial arts.__

To Hutchy: Is Terra a murderer? Read on, my friend, read on.

{}{}{}

Beast Boy had began to play the surprisingly undamaged Gamestation. He assumed that it was Cyborg's doing, since he was close to worshipping the device. Beast Boy was glad of his devotion, as it helped kill the time. As his character smashed his opponent into the ground, he did a silent victory dance so as not to wake the sleeping girl who was lying on the couch next to him.

Without warning, Robin whirled around the corner, staff in hand as he looked at Beast Boy, scouring the green changeling for signs of a struggle.

"You okay?"

"Of course. What's there to make me not okay?"

"Terra… Slade told us that…"

Beast Boy sighed, rolling his eyes at his leader. "You came all the way back here because Slade told you Terra was trying to kill me, right?"

"How did…"

"He gave the same speech to me. Now get your butts back there and whup him before I do it myself."

Robin backed out of the room, his face red with embarrassment. Why had he believed _Slade_, of all people? Retreating back down to the entrance, he was snatched up by Starfire before his foot touched the dirt that their home was on. "What are you doing?" He asked her, looking straight towards Slade's lair.

"We overheard that once again Slade fooled us, so we set back out. Raven and Cyborg are already on their way. We must catch up to them."

The two flew as fast as they could towards their waiting friends. Arriving back at the entrance, they were met up By Cyborg and Raven, who wisely decided not to mention the fact that Robin had been fooled by his arch-enemy.

Robin did not mention it either. In fact, he didn't say a word to any of them. He simply walked into the underground fortress, eyes burning with rage and hatred toward his most-hated foe. Starfire was about to attempt to pacify him when Cyborg's hand held her shoulder.

"I wouldn't try to calm him down, Star. He might tear your head off if you do. It's a figure of speech." He said quickly, seeing the look on her face.

Raven interjected. "But that's not the point. Just don't say anything and do as he says. He's not himself right now."

The three followed him into the gaping mouth of the entrance, jogging to catch up with their leader. He was still walking toward the control room, not even acknowledging their presence as he headed toward his mortal enemy. Two androids guarded the doors to the control room, but he simply threw two electric disks at them, and they crumpled to the ground. The door automatically hissed open. Stepping inside, he extended his staff. "You…" he roared with fury, "lying…" He raised his staff, determined to kill the man in one fell swoop. "little…"

He never got to finish, as the man he was attempting to kill kicked him in the chest. He went flying back to the others, and was caught by Raven. They stared on at the man who looked down at them with disdain.

"So you finally made it back. And in one piece. Impressive. Tell me, how bad was Beast Boy's body? I'm curious as to how she finished him off."

"He was _fine._" The Boy Wonder shouted back.

Slade shook his head. "All in good time, all in good time. But enough about her. Where did we leave off? Oh yes, you had met my supercomputer, that right. Now that we're all caught up, let us begin, shall we?"

He extended his staff. They stared at each other, waiting for the first move from the other. The Titans began the confrontation.

Starfire sent a starbolt his way, but he parried the green energy back at her, and they scattered out of the way. Now that they were split up, they attacked from all angles. Cyborg sent a fist at his head, but a swipe of the staff sent his arm away, and a kick to the gut sent the teen away. Starfire flew at him close to the ground, sending shot after shot at him, but he simply twirled his staff in front of him, sending the bolts in random directions. Starfire ducked to the side just in time, for one of her own bolts was sent at her chest. However, her dodge proved a mistake, as it left her open to the masked man, who took the opportunity to hit her in the gut with the point of his weapon. A spin kick sent her directly into Robin, and it knocked both of them back.

Raven tried to pull the instrument away from him, but he jerked on it hard, causing her hold to break. He struck downwards at her, but she dodged backwards. This was what he had expected. Sending the stick into her gut, he used it to throw her over his head to the ground behind him. He whirled around and sent the pointed end directly on her back, snapping her spine. He looked up in time to catch Cyborg's fist directly in the face. The enraged boy walked quickly over to him, eyes blazing with a cold fury as he advanced on Slade.

"_YOU AIN'T SUPPOSED TO HIT GIRLS!!!_" he bellowed at him, and shot his sonic cannon at the prone tactician. However Slade bounded up, cracking the staff on the mechanical teen's chin. Sailing over him, he kicked the back of his head, and Cyborg went flying into the wall. Slade immediately sent a sideways strike with his weapon behind him, catching the vengeful Starfire in the jaw. She skidded across the ground, and remained still after he threw her into the consoles.

Slade turned to Robin. "It's just you and me now. I wouldn't have had it any other way. Now the persistent Teen Titans shall die before my hands."

"What happened to the whole apprentice obsession?" Robin asked scathingly.

"An apprentice? Dear me Robin, you are losing your touch. An apprentice? I have no need for one."

"Then why did you make Terra and me into them?"

"It was all staged out. Your becoming an apprentice was to break the team's confidence in you. That didn't work quite the way I had planned, but it got the job done." Slade talked to Robin in a matter-of-fact tone. "You see, with the lose of their leader to me, the Titans were supposed to not let you back. It didn't work. But their trust in you was marred. Then along came Terra. She was another thing to throw you off track. You were fooled by her loyalty to me. You believe that I was actually going to help her? I intended to kill her when she had destroyed you and your friends. I knew that you would discover the mine I had implanted in her suit. I left a trail of clues that only you could follow here, to me. I wanted it to be that way. I wanted the pleasure of killing with my own hands the only complication between me and total conquest. And now that time has come. Terra will soon lose her mind, thanks to my fail-safe." He went to the damaged console and picked up a remote trigger. Pushing the single button on it, he activated the screechers he had implanted on Terra's head.

()()()

Back at the tower, Terra began to scream, the sound squealing in her ears painfully as the screechers that were integrated into the suit activated, the noise only being heard by her. Beast Boy ran over to her, trying to find the source of her screams.

"Terra, what's wrong?" he asked urgently, but she couldn't respond, the noise driving all thought from her as she held her hands over her ears in a futile attempt to stop the sound. It suddenly stopped, and with it, the pain. She looked at Beast Boy with a perplexed look on her face.

"I don't know, there was suddenly this loud…"

But she couldn't finish her sentence, as the sound returned, and she immediately covered her ears again. She began walking crazily into things, her eyes closed from the pain. "Make it stop, Make it stop!" she shouted at someone, anyone, as the squeal reverberated in her mind. Beast Boy grabbed a hold of her shoulders, and yelled in her face.

"What is it, Terra? What's wrong?"

"The noise, it hurts, it _HURRRRRRRRTS…_"

Again the sound died down instantly. She was breathing heavily, and she heard a voice in her head. It sounded like nothing she had ever heard.

"It won't go away 'til you do it."

"Please make it stop, it _HURRRRRRRRRTS…_"

"It won't go away 'til you do it." The voice repeated, unfazed by the anguish in her voice.

Beast Boy shook her. "What hurts, Terra. Tell me!"

"Beast Boy, it hurts _bad_. It won't go away…"

Beast Boy did the only thing he could think of. He slapped her in the face. The timing of his action was perfect, as the sound once again stopped as suddenly as it started. She gasped, and gingerly touched where he had struck her.

"Now tell me, Terra, What is going on?"

"I don't know. It's just this sound and it hurts so badly…"

She grasped her head again as it started up again. "Please, make it go away." She begged him. "Make it go away."

Beast Boy looked wildly around for the source of her torment. Then his sensitive ears picked up a slight squeal, coming from the two devices that Slade had planted on her head. Now knowing the source of her pain, he tried to find a way to remove them.

Meanwhile Terra broke loose from his grip as she staggered over to the counter. She walked straight into it, sending pain into her ribs as she hit them hard. Falling to the ground, she rolled back and forth, the pain slicing into her head like a knife.

For the third time, the sound stopped. She remained on the floor, lest her movement trigger another outbreak. Beast Boy persisted in looking for a way to remove the things from her head. The noise began again, and Terra screamed out in pain, tears pouring down her face as the noise ripped through her like a reaper. She curled into a fetal position and hoped that she would die soon.

()()()

Slade again removed his finger from the button. Looking at Robin, who was staring in horror at the monitors that were showing Terra suffer from the piercing sound that racked through her brain. He glared at Slade, who put the trigger back on the console.

"You see, she must obey my every command, or else. Quite ingenious, if I say so myself. Now all I have to do is keep pushing this button…" He demonstrated, and Terra began convulsing with agony as Beast Boy tried to find a way to stop her suffering. "…until she does as I say. Which is to kill Beast Boy. Care to watch?"

"You _asshole!_"

Robin charged the man, calling out a battle cry that would have frozen an ordinary man's blood into ice. But Slade was not an ordinary man.

He caught the charging boy's staff. Tearing it from his grasp, he threw it across the room. His other hand connected with Robin's stomach, sending him flying back as the man stood up from the chair he had been sitting in.

"Get you weapon, boy. Don't you know not to attack unless the other is ready? Shame on you. I thought you knew better. But no matter."

He flipped over the button so that the weight of the base on the console kept it pushed in. Terra began to spasm again as the pain returned anew.

"The longer you take to defeat me, the longer she suffers. Now let us begin."

Slade charged him, staff upraised to strike at the boy's head. Robin dodged the blow, and used the momentum to back-flip over to _his_ staff. Snatching it up, he jumped back toward the man, a roar ripping through his throat as he swung at his foe. Slade blocked his attack with his own weapon, and he tried to jab him in the chest. Robin dodged him, sending an electric disk towards the other. The villain casually bat it aside, and it landed on Cyborg's body, but skidded off onto the floor next to him. Slade swung at him with his cudgel, but Robin parried his blow, thrusting at his exposed neck. Slade dodged to the side, and threw a small bomb at the Boy Wonder. It exploded near him, and the smoke clouded the area. Slade knew he had survived, and sure enough, a birdirang came sailing out of the cloud of smoke, slicing Slade's staff cleanly in two. But Slade had slightly retracted the two ends of his weapon, and with the staff in two pieces, he know had a perfect pair of kali sticks to use. Swinging them together at Robin's temples, the boy ducked out of the way, sending his weapon into Slade's stomach just as he smacked Robin in the back. Both backed off, trying to recover before the other. Slade's healing factor gave him the advantage, and he returned to the fray renewed. He swung his sticks this way and that as he aimed for all of Robin's vital areas. Blocking them all, he returned with some blows of his own, putting the masked man on the defensive, pushing him back as he attempted to strike him anywhere he could. A downward strike was caught as Slade used a cross block to stop the instrument cold. Kicking out with his foot, Robin recoiled, and Slade brought his kali sticks down on Robin's head, trying to crack his skull. Robin blocked this attack, and rammed his elbow into the other man's chest, while Slade countered with an upward swing from one of his weapons. Both combatants stumbled back, but quickly regained their footing. They again clashed as kali stick met staff as the two battled on, oblivious to all around them as they swung and blocked, knowing that this was the final fight that would decide whether the city would return to its former glory or crumble before the might of Slade. As their fight waged on, another was beginning back at the Tower.

()()()

Terra was now sobbing as she squeezed as small as she could get, trying to stop the sound waves that were slowly but surely eating away at her from the inside out. Beast Boy had given up on removing the modules and had settled for somehow shutting them down. He tried to keep the crying Terra still as he searched all over for an entrance. He couldn't seem to find one, but then Terra smacked him away with a strength he never knew she possessed. Staring at her, he saw the crazed look on her face, and he became scared of her.

"Beast Boy, run." She said, heading toward him as tears poured down her face, but whether it was from pain or sadness, Beast Boy didn't know.

"Terra, I'm trying to help you."

"I know, but it's back, and I can't stop it."

"Terra, what are you talking about?"

"Please, just run…"

Then he saw the sadness in Terra's eyes leave, and a malicious glint formed where it had been. Cracking her knuckles, she seemed to ignore the pain it sent throughout her body. More than anything, it seemed to be enjoyable. She turned her attention to Beast Boy, who looked on in horror as something else possessed her. Glancing at him, she seemed surprised by his presence, but quickly recovered, and a grin that seemed to Beast Boy to be the smile of a demon spread over her features.

"Ah, Beast Boy. To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting? Oh that's right. Had to stay and…" her voice sarcastically gained the tone like she was talking to a child. "protect poor helpless Terra, who might need you at her every beck and call." She laughed maniacally. "What on earth made me want to be with you?"

Socks came up to her and began to purr as he rubbed against her legs. She kicked him away, sending the feline into the couch, where he looked at her with a mixture of pain and anger. He hissed at her, and Terra sent a rock at him, which the cat dodged, and ran down the stairs. Beast Boy stared at her.

"Terra, what's gotten into you?"

"Gotten into me? Only some sense. I realized that Slade was right. I _do _enjoy death, but for some reason or other I stopped liking it. Compassion took hold of me, despite my efforts to banish this feeble emotion from my being. I tried to find a way to repent from my fun."

She chuckled, not at all the friendly giggle the Terra he knew used. "Repentance for those weaklings? What got into my head? I don't need to regret anything. But I realized that I had started to enjoy saving lives instead of taking them."

She scoffed at herself. "I even hitched up with _you _of all people. But Slade has released my true side and well…" She spread her arms wide, still looking evilly at him. "what do you think?"

"Your not Terra."

She roared with laughter, the pain from it either being ignored or enjoyed as she shook with mirth. "You _idiot_! I am Terra. I will always be Terra. What you associated with was not me, but merely my conscience taking hold of me for a short while. An illusion, as my former master once told you." Beast Boy ground his teeth, and she got a mocking tone to her voice. "Awww, did I hurt your itty bitty feewings?" She popped her head one way, cracking her neck as she revealed to Beast Boy the horror she had been hiding from him ever since she had met him. "I revel in your pain…" Her head jerked to the other side, popping her neck again. "I revel in all pain…" She smiled. "And I will soon roll in ecstasy from everyone's pain once again."

"The real Terra wouldn't hurt anyone."

"You still don't get it, do you? I _am _the real Terra, and I would hurt anyone and anything. I used to use peoples' pets as target practice; their whines were like a symphony from Beethoven himself. How about all the times me and my weaker side would consider suicide, trying to find a way to do it easy and quickly? She would always chicken out at the crucial moment. If not for your meddling, we would have succeeded earlier. But that's not all. Perhaps about the times the good in me would cry and cry, trying her hardest to wish me away? Or when she would look over the destruction we had caused, praying that she would be struck down and end the so-called 'turmoil'? The Terra you know is weak, with no need to be on this earth. There is and will always be me. She is gone forever. Get over it, lover-boy."

Beast Boy clenched his fist, and she giggled evilly. "You're going to try and stop me? That would involve killing me, along with the fake Terra you grew fond of. So what'll it be, changeling? Me or the city?"

"I'll save both, if you don't mind."

"Then by all means, try. I shall enjoy killing my so-called lover." She sarcastically blew him a kiss, reminding him of when she betrayed them the first time. "So long, Beast Boy. It was fun playing with your heart, but it's time to face the light. Or the darkness, as the situation is."

Beast Boy saw that she really meant to go through with it, and he popped his own neck.

"So this is how it ends, huh Terra? Regardless of how I feel for you, I won't go down without a fight."

He smiled with as much danger as she and more, pleased to note she hesitated. "Shall we dance?"

He became a raptor, and hit her away from himself with his tail. Terra flew into the wall, and in seconds Beast Boy had her pinned to the ground as an ape. She summoned rocks to the open window, and sent them at the green changeling, knocking him off her back. With him getting up from the floor, she sent the rocks at him, but he smashed them all as he whirled back on her, grabbing her in his arms to throw her across the room. Becoming a python, he wrapped himself around her body and began to squeeze the breath out of her, not enough to suffocate her, but so that she couldn't catch her breathe. Terra felt her broken bones scream out as the python continued to squeeze her. As she ran short of breath, the noise intensified, giving her new strength as the broke through his coils. He quickly became a tiger and slashed at her chest. She jumped back, and then found herself in the jaws of a crocodile. His jaws closed on her, keeping her still but not puncturing the skin. Terra shoved upwards in desperation, the sound driving her mad. She kicked the reptile in the nose, and it became Beast Boy once again, holding his nose as he rocked back and forth. Terra saw her opportunity, and tried to grab his throat, but his foot slammed into her gut. Flipping her over his head, Beast Boy sent her flying into the wall. With suddenness, the noise stopped, and she instantly regained her sanity. Beast Boy, unaware of this, became a T-Rex and was about to scoop her in his jaws when she rolled out of the way.

"Beast Boy, stop!" She shouted at him, but he didn't hear her. Grabbing her by the throat, he cut off her air supply in an attempt to knock her out. Terra tried her best to signal that she had returned to normal, but couldn't, as his grip was extremely strong, since he had become a gorilla. Terra kicked him in the chest, which sent him off of her. Stumbling back a pace, he recovered almost instantly, but Terra waved him down.

"Beast Boy, it's okay. It's gone…"

The noise started yet again. She gripped her head, but did not become the demon that had taken her mind before. Beast Boy morphed into a human and again began to search for a way to shut down the devices that were torturing her. Terra felt that horrible voice come back, speaking to her like she was a child.

"Let me back. I will end this forever. There will be no more pain for you, only for him. It won't go away 'til you do it."

She whimpered as she strived to drive the sinister voice away from herself. Beast Boy could sense the struggle between her two sides, and he gave up on his search, figuring getting rid of the noise would be impossible if she became what she had been. He knelt next to her, putting an arm around her as he tried his best to help her with the horrors she was mentally waging war with.

Suddenly, it seemed as though the noise stopped. Terra looked relieved, and she leaned on his shoulder, mentally exhausted from the conflict that had been taking place in her mind. Beast Boy looked at her face, trying to find out anymore about the side of Terra that he had just seen.

"What was that?"

"You don't want to know." She replied grimly, but before Beast Boy could insist, the sound returned. The battle for Terra's mind began anew, while the battle for Jump City waged below.

()()()

The cause for the break in her torment was Robin knocking off the trigger from the console. Raising his staff to destroy the device once and for all, He was struck by Slade, who tackled him to the side and flipped the instrument back over with his foot in one graceful swoop. Landing in a crouched position, He stared at the Boy Wonder.

"Sorry, Robin. Terra shall suffer for her sins. And I won't let you interfere with her judgment. Now come, let us finish this."

Pouncing at the boy, Slade aimed his kali for his opponents face, but Robin hit them away, sending the other end into Slade's side. Slade countered with a kali stick to his shoulder, and Robin swung at him sideways. Slade blocked this with both of his weapons, and the two became locked in a power struggle as they tried to push the other away.

"Now Robin. Weren't you taught anything? Locking weapons with a staff is not the wisest choice. For you see…"

Slade turned around the side of the boy, and clotheslined him with one of his kali. Sending the other into his back, Slade then moved them quickly upwards to Robin's neck. Holding the boy like this, he slammed him to the ground. Slade flipped one of his sticks so that he was holding it upside down, with the length pointing at the ground that his target was laid upon. Sending it towards Robin's throat, it was stopped when Robin kicked him away. Slade used the momentum to flip over, and landed on the floor near Starfire. He glanced at her limp body casually.

"Why, I do believe she is dying, Robin. And Terra is still suffering. Your team has been annihilated, and the city is mine. What makes you think you can win?"

"Because it's my job to rid the world of scum like you."

"Touché, my friend. But you must see reason. I have won. All I have to do is call in my androids to wipe out your team, and then you. But I choose not to."

"Why not?"

"Because Robin." Slade's eye slit dangerously. "I'm not through with you."

He flipped over the remote that was torturing Terra. He threw it behind him, and it skidded over to the entrance that led to the supercomputer. The door slid open, and an android reached down and picked up the device. It walked into the room and stood in a corner, watching the two combatants silently as they tried to stare the other down.

"No more distractions, Robin. No teams to defend, no Terra to try and save, no nothing. Except for the fate of your little girlfriend. Those live wires must be eating up her energy like candy."

Robin charged the man. There was no warning, no shout of rage. Simply an advance towards the man, as Robin swung his staff with the speed of a master. Slade's kali moved just as fast, but not enough to stop all the blows. Slade saw he was losing, and silently signaled the android to push the button, which it did without hesitation. Terra's pain began again, and Slade took the split second that Robin was distracted by her shouts to send one stick into his head. Robin went flying towards Starfire and the console, but stopped short as he skidded to a stop, his crouched position stopping his advance. He whirled and snatched her from the broken machine, sending her over to land against Cyborg. Robin turned back to Slade, but he sent a kali at his head. It connected, and the Boy wonder went down under the stress. Slade stood over him, still as composed as ever.

"And so it ends. You put up a challenge, but now I will take your life, your friends' lives, and the mind of Terra in one blow. Now how many birds is that to kill with a single stone is that? No matter. Good-bye, Robin." Slade raised both sticks at once, preparing to bring them down on the others temple, but he was distracted by the green ape that slammed into him.

In fact, it took up all his attention.

Slade looked up at Beast Boy, who was transforming back into a human.

"What are you doing here?"

"Stopping you, Captain Obvious." He said smugly.

"Aren't you supposed to be…" He started, but Terra stepped out from behind him, where she had been lurking in the shadows.

"Ah, there you are. I saw your little… 'transformation', for lack of a better word. This discovery reveals much. No wonder you were the murderer that I perceived you to be. That side of you must be difficult to control. Perhaps so difficult, that it could be released if I do this?"

Slade pushed the button, and the noise started up again. Terra Remained standing, but it was obvious to all that she was having difficulty staying that way. Slade looked at her struggles, adding in his monolog in an attempt to change her once again.

"Now now, Terra, this petty resistance is futile. Do you not want to change? I can help you child. I can make you well. But first you have to show me. Come now, Terra. Let the killer come out and play."

His words crumbled her resistance, and the glint returned once more returned to her eyes.

"Very well, then. Now what? Perhaps a little demonstration?"

She sent two tendrils of stone at him, but he simply stepped a pace ahead, the two tentacles demolishing each other as they made contact.

"Better, Terra. But still not good enough."

Swinging his kali sticks at her, she blocked them both with her broken arms. She smiled maniacally at him, and sent the rubble at his back. It connected with him, and he stumbled past her, grunting as they struck him. She looked at him with contempt.

"This is all my former master can do?"

"Not even close."

Slade sent both his kali into her sides. Lifting them so that they struck her armpits, he flipped her and slammed her head into the ground. Kicking her in the stomach, she went sailing away from him, but she threw some more rocks at him, but a jump straight up sent them harmlessly under the man. Landing back on the ground, Slade jumped towards her, and swung outwards with his sticks. Terra couldn't stop this, and the force that it hit her neck was enough to paralyze her for a short while. Beast Boy then entered the fray, his hippo form smacking Slade away from her as his nose connected with his torso.

Terra sent a boulder into him, pinning him against the wall. "I didn't ask for your help." She growled at him, turning in time to see her opponent's weapons spinning towards her. They struck her on the head and chest. Slade, now devoid of any weapon, tried to jump-kick her, but her time under him had taught her a thing or two about self-defense. Rolling forward, she kicked behind her to catch him in the back with the heel of her foot. He lost his balance, landing on his back. She sent another pillar at him, aiming to crush his chest, but he flipped back out of the way. A sweep kick sent her to the ground again, and he grabbed her by the hair. Swinging her in a wide circle, he sent her towards the wall, letting go at the right moment to make her head hit first. She stood back up, but he was there in an instant, an uppercut sending her over his head to the ground behind him. She growled in frustration as he stood looking at her with the same contempt she had only moments ago.

"Is that all you got, Terra? Disappointing. Your other side is nothing like I expected. Even this part of you doesn't belong among the living, and not even the dead. Now what to do? Perhaps, we should ask the boyfriend. Tell me, Beast Boy, what shall her fate be?"

Beast Boy, who had unpinned himself from the wall. Looked at Terra. He saw the same look that had possessed her earlier.

"Well, lover-boy? What'll it be?" she asked, smiling smugly at him, awaiting his decision.

"That you go away and let the real Terra out."

She sighed. "I've told you once, I've told you twice, I've told you a thousand times, I am the real Terra."

"Prove it. Where you there in the beginning?"

"No, but…"

"Where you what her parents knew and loved before she began wandering?"

"No…"

Were you the one who would take over her real side and make her do those things?"

"Yes."

"Now tell me how you are the real Terra."

"Well… I…"

"You are merely her anger manifested as a separate entity. She was always the caring person I know. You would simply be set loose by accident every now and then. If you were the real Terra, she wouldn't feel remorse for what you did under her name."

"Shut up…"

"She wouldn't have been able to fight you back at all."

"Shut up…"

"And she wouldn't have become my friend!"

"_Shut up!"_

Terra jumped at him, but he simply became a gorilla and grabbed her by the throat. Setting her down. He began to combat the demon that had plagued her life for as long as she could remember.

"Come out, Terra."

_"I am Terra!"_

"Your stronger than this. Fight it. Don't let it take you."

Terra screamed, and sent a rock hurtling at his back. Jumping out of the way, the sinister side watching in horror as it came straight for her instead. She gasped as it hit her in the diaphragm, knocking out her air as it continued its plunge into her. When it finally stopped its movement, Terra was pinned under the rock helplessly, unable to move it due to the lack of oxygen to her brain. Beast Boy's gorilla form soon moved it, and once again becoming human, he stared at her.

"Terra?"

She looked at him through half closed eyes. "Beast Boy?" Her tone was normal.

She had thrown off the evil spirit that had possessed her once again, hopefully for the final time.

Slade made his presence known again. "So Terra finally has peace of mind as Beast Boy looks on at her demise. How cliché. I feel like I'm in some sort of drama story."

He put his hands behind his back. "Now where were we before this… touching moment began? Oh yes. Me and Terra were fighting. But seeing as how she will never fight again, shall we continue where she left off, Beast Boy?"

He took up a fighting stance. Beast Boy became a raptor once more, and the two began circling each other, looking for an opening in the others defense. Seeing none, Beast Boy began with a jump at him, fangs bared and claws poised to rip through Slade in a killing blow. Slade ducked to the side, aiming to chop Beast Boy's back. The changeling whipped back with his tail and caught the man in the chest. Slade went flying back, hitting his back on the wall. Standing up, his brain capacity allowed him to make up a plan within a split second. Letting Beast Boy charge him, he feinted towards Terra, and Beast Boy turned to attack. Going the other way, he zoomed around Beast Boy to catch Terra by the hair once again. He used her as a shield, stopping Beast Boy's rampage against the insane man.

"Come now, Beast Boy. Don't be surprised. Use every asset in battle. A quote from Sun Tzu's Book of War, I believe. Perhaps I should finish this now. Say good-bye to your little girlfriend."

Slade made ready to snap her neck, but Robin struck him like Hellfire. Smashing the man as hard as he could with his fists, he shouted orders to the others, who had finally recovered from their blows.

"Get out of here! Destroy the computer and get out!"

"Dude, what about…"

_"NOW!!!"_

Silently following his orders, They set off, Cyborg gingerly carrying Raven, trying to keep her back straight as he ran madly towards the exit. Opening the door, he handed her to Starfire, and sent a blast at a cooling vent on the behemoth. Alarms began anew, but the Titans were driven on by pure rage, sending all they had at what was left of the once most heavily defended structure in the city. Beast Boy lagged back with Terra, trying not to become a target as the others fought tooth and nail with the beast.

Starfire dodged through the drones that remained, with Cyborg providing cover as she fired at the cooling vents, trying to melt down the central core that would destroy the monster. Cyborg noted some lasers had targeted Raven, who was set behind the consoles, but she awoke in time to grab them and tear them from the massive creature.

Returning to his task, Cyborg fired at the turrets that threatened to hit the alien girl, but she flew around their bolts like she had been doing it all her life, even having them hit their own drones as she ducked and weaved through the forest of red lasers, seeking to annihilate the leviathan.

When all air vents were destroyed that she could reach without straying to far from her cover-fire, she zipped back to the top, keeping the drones distracted from her vulnerable teammates. Raven sent some bolts at the pests, but since she couldn't move, they were not at all close to her full potential. However, it was enough to annihilate the lightly armored security modules, and Cyborg and Starfire were able to take care of the rest.

With no way to take down the computer, they would soon be overwhelmed by sheer exhaustion from the countless drones and turrets that surrounded the behemoth. Robin provided the solution with all his explosive disks into an open cooling vent. The devices traveled down to the core, the shockwaves from the explosions rupturing the sensitive components that made up the central unit.

The alarm stream changed from signaling intruders to alerting of a core meltdown. Explosions began to rip across the surface of the thing, the groans and shrieks of metal giving way seeming to be like the calls of a dying animal.

Seeing as the only way out had been blocked by the lock-down, he used his last option.

Snatching up Raven, Robin leapt over the consoles, telling the others to follow suit. Starfire took Cyborg, and Beast Boy Terra as they plunged after their leader as he pulled a grappling hook from his coat, which was flaring out like wings as he continued his descent the floor below. Drones tried to pursue them, but were destroyed as a particularly large explosion tore through the armor of the creature, rupturing their armor and causing them to detonate themselves, raining shards of metal towards the Titans.

Within the space of a few seconds, Robin saw the ground come into view. Snapping out the cable, it wrapped around a turret, which held their weight as he let himself drop the rest of the way. Landing softly, He discovered to his horror that the doorway was open, revealing the biggest mass of androids he had ever seen. He jumped out of the way, and his timing was perfect, for just the an explosion tore through the hall, wiping out every single android completely as it tore into the room, the pressure keeping it contained to the space directly in front of the doorway. The others landed, and Robin handed Raven to Cyborg.

"Take the others and get out of here."

"Dude, where you goin'?"

"I'm going after Slade."

Cyborg decided it was best not to argue, so he flagged down Beast Boy and Terra.

"Come on, this way."

"What about Robin?" Starfire inquired.

"He knows what he's doing. Let's go."

"But…"

"Starfire, you want to argue with him like he is? Let's get out before this place takes us all with it!"

Cyborg turned and ran down the hallway, Beast Boy and Terra bringing up the rear. Starfire looked to where Robin had disappeared. She turned and followed her friends back to the entrance of the complex.

They met no resistance as they tore through the hallways, knowing their lives depended on speed.

()()()

Robin swung back up to the top of the room. Landing expertly back on the circular platform, he ran through the doorway and looked left and right for the masked man.

"Looking for me?"

Robin looked up in surprise to see Slade crouched against the wall using some form of martial arts that Robin had never seen before.

Slade dropped down, aiming a punch at Robin's face. Dodging to the side, the Boy Wonder stared at the man who had his fist buried in the ground. Pulling it out, he stared at Robin with the calm, collected expression he always had.

"So you've come to finish me off, eh? But as you can see, I'm still at my full potential. And you know you cannot beat me. Wasn't I about to finish you of not too long ago? No matter, I shall do it now. One last round, Robin. No weapons, no gadgets. Strictly hand-to-hand combat. This is the beginning of the end. My base is gone, but will I be? Come, Robin. Let us begin."

Robin flipped a switch on one of his gadgets just as Slade punched him backwards. Robin stood up, and with a hoarse yell charged into battle, their attacks moving like lightning as they sought to strike the other down. Soon, they backed into the computer room. Slade threw Robin at the edge, but he caught on, flipping himself up to deliver a kick to the chest in the same motion. Slade stumbled back, but recovered quickly, trying to jump-kick his opponent. Robin back-flipped out of the way, but Slade swept at him, sending him crashing to the floor. Slade made to plant his heel into Robin's chest, but the boy caught it, and shoved upwards. Slightly losing his balance, Slade stepped back a pace, and countered Robin's subsequent lunge with an uppercut. Robin went flying backwards, and Slade managed to catch him before he landed. Throwing him into a console, he kicked the boy in the gut, knocking the air from him. As Robin stood up, gasping for air, Slade grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Making to smash his fist into his head, he heard an engine behind him. Turning around, he saw for a brief second the R-cycle approaching him like a vengeful angel. It collided with him, which made him release Robin, dropping him to the ground. Robin stood up groggily, and looked out at where the man had disappeared. He saw Slade hanging by a hand on one of the cooling vents of his computer. "Slade!" Robin shouted, but the masked man continued to stare at him, the light of contempt back in his eye and tone.

"And so it ends. You win, Robin. How does it feel? Do you feel like a hero? Perhaps that all will be well again? You will never learn."

Slade released his hold from the vent. "Good-bye, Robin. 'Til our paths cross again."

The man known as Slade fell down towards the floor. Robin was about to go and catch him, but then an explosion shot upwards, knocking him back off his feet. Robin felt certain. That blast must have surely killed the man. He felt a twang of sadness for the man, but he remembered his current situation. Dashing to the R-cycle, he jumped on, jamming down on the starter. It fired up immediately, and Robin whirled it around as he rode back into the control room just as the computer detonated.

Flames spread their way towards him like fingers as he turned towards the main hall that would lead to the outside. Hitting on the gas full throttle, the sounds of his motor revving intensified as it and its rider sped towards the entrance. The flames followed them down the hall, seeming to take a life of their own as they spread towards Robin at a deadly speed, threatening to engulf him should he make a wrong move. He sped on his way, ducking his head to avoid the shots from androids that still remained. They were immediately vaporized by the advancing wall of flames, and Robin dared not look back as he went flying down the hallway towards his friends and fresh air. He felt small tendrils of flames lick at him as he saw the entrance come into view.

()()()

The others had been waiting for what felt like hours. Starfire flew back and forth restlessly, looking every few seconds at the entrance to Slade's lair. Terra noticed her irritation, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. It's Robin, after all. He can take care of himself."

Starfire nodded, but continued her airborne pacing, still looking down the entrance for any sign of the Boy Wonder.

Without warning she heard the motor of the R-cycle running, and another sound that put dread in her heart. It was a sound that the miners on her planet talked about. The survivors told of the sound of death speeding down towards them, like angry snakes advancing on a herd of baby pigs.

The sound of rushing flames.

The others heard it too, and all except for Raven, who couldn't move since her back was broken, looked into the entrance to see the Boy wonder running from the fire that would engulf him at any second. They saw the flames wrap around him completely, blocking him from view, and Starfire gasped. She then looked as he burst through the inferno and passed them as he zoomed out the access tunnel, followed by a pillar of blazing fire that passed them all, soon receding back into the passageway like a monstrous viper. Skidding to a halt, he stepped off his mount to be painfully embraced by Starfire, who hugged him as though he would go back if she let him go.

"Robin, you made it back, I'm so happy I could…"

Robin became alarmed. "Uh, Star? Could we leave out any, um… singing? I'm not really in the mood right now."

"Of course, whatever you wish."

She backed off, letting the others congratulate their leader.

"Boo-ya, the little bird returns to his team, ha hah!"

"Nice work, Boy Wonder."

"Dude, that totally kicked butt! Could you do it again sometime?"

"Good going, man."

Robin felt better than he had ever felt before. Slade was gone. The Titans were back together. Terra and Beast Boy had finally hooked up again, and he and Starfire also had something click between them. Cyborg backed off to Raven. He grinned at the Boy Wonder and the Alien, who were whirling around jovially.

"They're really hittin' it off good."

"You said it."

"Think it'll last?"

"I have no doubts. They'll be a good couple, but not like Terra and Beast Boy."

"I know, those two are like yin and yang. I ain't worried about them, their gonna be fine."

"We all are. There's no more threat. If it weren't for my back, I'd probably be out there with them if my good judgment lapsed."

"You dance? Now _there's _something for the papers."

Raven smiled. "I can see the headlines now…" She framed her head with her hands. "Raven dances, whole city in shock as she shows us how to do the Charleston."

Cyborg fell out laughing at the thought of Raven doing the Charleston, a dance that was created during the Roarin' Twenties.

"Oh, boy. With a picture of you dancing like that on the front page, captioned 'Raven awes audience as she demonstrates the Watusi to all who see her.'!"

The thought of that sent both teens into hysterics, their laughter mingling with the wind as it blew through the streets of Jump City, which were now devoid of any of Slade's creations. The six of them could almost hear the pitter-patter of feet hitting the sidewalk as the people who would soon return walked along the sidewalks, while cars once again drove down the streets, and the joyous sound of children playing that would come from the park.

They arrived at Titans Tower, standing at the entrance, trying to figure out how to solve the problem that now stood before them.

"Alright, good work team. We've beaten Slade, and the city is back to normal. Well, as normal as it needs to be right now. But there is still one problem that remains. How are we going to stop this permanent winter that Slade put on the city?"

There were several seconds of silence, when Terra spoke up.

"Slade told me about the computer, warning me not to enter the room for anything. He said that all functions were run by that computer. So chances are that it was run by the computer as well."

Robin pondered on this, but was interrupted by the most appropriate sight, something he hadn't seen for what felt like years.

The sun rose slowly, its power and grace like a god as it peeked over the horizon, shining down upon the city and its six inhabitants. They all stared in wonder at the beauty, silent as they watched the object bring light to once dark corners, seeming like a wondrous presence that brought peace and warmth wherever it went. As the star rose, the Titans looked away, as though it was God Himself that was making His presence over the horizon.

They all walked humbly into the tower, Cyborg and Starfire carrying Raven on a piece of wood into their home. Robin followed, and Beast Boy walked in, leaving Terra alone to think. She smiled towards the sun, silently thanking whatever higher spiritual being was out there that let her win her fight over her evil side. Beast Boy poked his head out.

"What's the hold-up, Terra? Come on, were gonna have a feast!"

"Not your junky tofu burgers!" She heard Cyborg shout from upstairs.

"Yes I _am_ having my tofu!" He yelled, dashing up the stairs to fight over the main course of their meal.

"All right, be there in a sec." Terra called up to them. She turned back to the sunrise, and saw her parents standing there before her. Her mom's golden hair did not wave as a breeze picked up, while her dad's blue eyes shone down at her with the love only a parent could show. They waved at her, and disappeared behind a dust cloud that the breeze picked up. Terra smiled, and a tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it away, and turned back towards the door that led inside the tower. As she neared the top, she started to distinguish the heated argument between Beast Boy and Cyborg over the main course of their celebration banquet.

"Make me some tofu!"

"Naw, that'll ruin the meal!"

"Just do it!"

"Uh, guys? Couldn't you just each…"

"Shut up with your idiotic arguing?"

"Not quite what I was going to say."

Terra smiled happily. The elevator door opened, allowing her to be with her friends, her family, and her home. This was how life should be.

This was the life she had always sought.

The sun shone down warmly at the heroes who had given their all to save the city from the hold of its most deadly foe.

{}{}{}

This concludes the story "Titans Rising". Turns out there won't be 3-5 more chapters. I'll be working on a sequel, as well as a humorous songfic and a crossover with a video game called "The Suffering"

This story began as a simple fun activity and quickly became the thing that I focused on most from start to finish.

Terra's problem is slight schizophrenia with a split personality. Sort of like Gollum, only not as much conversation between the two sides.

There WILL be an epilogue setting up the sequel. Whether I write it or not remains to be determined.

My hopes for the third and fourth season are that

1. Terra comes back, or is at least mentioned.

2. That there will be as much good wholesome drama in the rest of the series as there was in season two

3. That Beast Boy will finally find that special someone that's out there for everyone that isn't secretly working for the main villain. And you know who I mean. The story tells you all.

Thank you for reviewing, and I'll see you next time. Good night, everybody! You've been a wonderful audience!

This story was begun to show the horrors of suicide and that it is possible to recover from it. Whether or not it accomplished this is up to you.

In loving memory of my father. God rest his soul.


	7. Epilogue

Welcome to the epilogue. Won't be long, since it is, after all, an epilogue. Enjoy.

{}{}{}

"Good work, team."

They all plopped down on the couch, having just gotten back from sending Gizmo once again to prison. Robin wondered if he'd ever learn to not leave a trail that a blind man could follow. Or maybe the jail should learn to keep him _in_ prison.

He had gone back to his old garb, now that it was far too hot to wear his old trench coat and gloves. But he kept them, just to serve as a memory of what had happened. Or for winter. Whichever he chose.

Starfire brought in some pizzas they had just ordered into the room. Setting them on the table, there was plenty for all. They ate as though the pizza would run away if they didn't finish it then.

Soon, Robin heard his communicator go of. He flipped it open, and lo and behold, Slade stared at him from the screen.

"Good day, Robin. Surprised? You shouldn't be."

"What do you want?" Robin asked softly, and the other Titans looked at him, all knowing who it was that had called him on an encrypted channel.

"Robin, Robin, Robin. Will you ever learn? If I had a nickel for every time you've asked me that, I wouldn't need to steal anymore. You won't find me in your precious city, though. I've decided to move on. But why don't you join me for the show? I'll be waiting… apprentice."

The line shut off, and Robin stood there fuming at the man's words. How had he survived? He saw him drop to the floor, saw the explosion rip apart the room. How could he have lived through all that?

He turned to his team. "We can't track him down _and _defend the city at the same time. We'll need to split up. Any volunteers?"

Beast Boy took up the call. "I'll go. Been getting' boring facing the same criminals over and over. Need some variety."

Terra stood up as well. "I'll go with him."

Robin nodded. "Alright, you set out tomorrow. We'll pack provisions tonight. I'm going to trace his signal."

Starfire made to stop him, but Terra caught her eye. She shook her head, and the alien backed down. Beast Boy was the one who broke the tension in the room.

"Well, I don't know about y'all, but I ain't lettin' my share go to waste."

He began to eat again, and the others soon followed suit, the atmosphere of the Tower returning to its jovial setting as they enjoyed their meal. Starfire brought a slice to Robin, who thanked her and set it next to him. Using one hand to type faster than some who used two hands, the other holding his slice as he took a bite every now and then as he searched for the call's origin. Starfire looked worried.

"Robin, you are not…"

Getting obsessed again? No, just tracking down the signal. Terra and Beast Boy are doing the rest. I'm fine."

"Because the last time…"

"Yes yes, last time I went to his side. But now it's different. He's in another city, and I'm not the one following him. It's gonna be fine, Star. I promise."

"Although you have broken your word before, I will trust you this time." She pecked him on the cheek. "I wish you luck."

Robin blushed slightly. "Thanks, Star. Now go have a good time."

She returned to their TV room, where the battle for the controller had again began.

"It's my turn!"

"It'll be your turn when I have my turn!"

"I'll let you play after my turn!"

And so the day passed by. Robin located the origin of the signal. Beast Boy and Terra left to find the masked villain. And they did find him, and confronted him.

But that, my friends, is another story for another time.

{}{}{}


End file.
